Born in London, he was son of Henry Corbould and grandson of Richard Corbould, both painters. He was a pupil of Henry Sass, and a student at the Royal Academy. In 1842 his watercolour of The Woman taken in Adultery was purchased by Albert, Prince Consort, and nine years later he was appointed instructor of historical painting to the Royal Family. He continued for twenty-one years teaching its members. Corbould married three times:
On 28 September 1839 to Fanny Jemima, daughter of the engraver Charles Heath, by whom he had three daughters, one of whom, Isabel Fanny, has two daughters who are artists, Mrs. Eveline Corbould-Ellis and Mrs. Weatherley;
On 7 August 1851 to Anne Middleton Wilson, by whom he had two sons, Ridley Edward Arthur Lamothe and Victor Albert Louis Edward ;
On 15 January 1868 to Anne Melis Sanders, by whom he had one son and one daughter.
In 1834, 1835, and 1836 Corbould won gold medals of the Society of Arts, in 1834 with a watercolour of the Fall of Phaethon, and in the last two years with models of St. George and the Dragon and a Chariot Race, from Homer. His first exhibits in the Royal Academy in 1835 included a model ; and he submitted designs for four pieces of sculpture for Blackfriars Bridge. Corbould was known for his water-colours, in which he produced subjects illustrating literature, history, and daily life. A few of his pictures are in oils. He started exhibiting at the New Water Colour Society in 1837, becoming a member in the same year. His early exhibits included The Canterbury Pilgrims assembled at the old Tabard Inn. Many of his works were acquired by Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and his royal pupils, including an illustration of Alfred Tennyson's Morte d'Arthur presented by Queen Victoria to Princess Louise, and Henry VI welcomed to London after his Coronation in Paris, and The Iconoclasts of Basle, acquired by the Empress Frederick for the imperial collection in Berlin. Apart from the royal collections, one of the largest collections of his works was that of George Strutt of Belper. A watercolour Lady Godiva went to the National Gallery of New South Wales. Corbould exhibited in all about 250 drawings at the Royal Institute, retiring from active membership in 1898. He also produced designs for book illustration: in the Abbotsford edition of the Waverley Novels, and in A & C Black's edition of the same works ; Spenser's Faerie Queene and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales ; Martin Farquhar Tupper's Proverbial Philosophy ; and Robert Aris Willmott's Poets of the Nineteenth Century, and Merrie Days of England. He worked for periodicals such as London Society, the Churchman's Family Magazine, Cassell's Magazine, and the Illustrated London News. Prints after his paintings included:
The Canterbury Pilgrims assembled at the old Tabard Inn ;
Henry VI welcomed to London after his Coronation ;
My Chickens for Sale, Maid of the Mill, and Valentine's Eve ;
