Foster was a member of an old North-Country Quaker family. He was the youngest one of seven children. His father removed to London when he was five years of age. Foster seems to have been the only member of the family who had any inclinations towards art. He is known as a born watercolorist, illustrator, etcher, wood and metal engraver. He is said to have been able to draw before he could speak. At the first schools to which he went, those kept by Quakers at Tottenham and at Hitchio, he was taught drawing, and then later on he had special lessons from a master named Parry; but his education ended before he was sixteen. He was sent to the studio of Ebenezer Landells, a wood engraver, a man who had known Thomas Bewick the engraver acquainted with Foster's grandfather, who became important to Foster as an influence. In London and Surrey he worked for many years doing drawings for "Punch", "Punch's Almanack", the "Illustrated London News" and its " Annual Almanack", and many of the illustrated books of the day, notably one by S.C. Hall on Ireland. Foster did very little actual engraving since he did his work drawing on the blocks so well that his time was fully occupied with it. He himself was always ready to add to his knowledge with steady work outdoors, or by sketching events which took place in order to use them for illustrations. He left Landell's in 1846, starting out on his own, working as a book illustrator for Vizetelly. His first great success was in illustrating " Evangeline", and after that he was sent up the Rhine to make drawings for "Hyperion", and for a book on the famous river itself. His work was widely respected and pleasing, and assumed a strong and broad character. He had a great love for the rustic cottage scenes of Surrey, and painted them with a daintiness and skill which few have excelled. His greatest triumph in painting were obtained in the country side, in the winding lane, the hedgerow with its flowers, the cottage, the hamlet, or the village, and he painted all these over and over again with a careful attention to details. His graceful paintings were invariably popular and attractive. His home at Witley, near London, named The Hill, was adorned with the work of his artist friends. Edward Burne-Jones painted his staircase, Rossetti adorned the dining-room, Keene designed some of the stained glass, Morris and Hunt, Linnell, Walker, Pinwell, Houghton and Lewis, all had their share in the decoration, and the result was very remarkable and widely praised. Towards the close of his life, Foster had to leave The Hill, and settled in failing health at Weybridge. There he died at the age of seventy-three, becoming an important figure in English art.