Ralph Todd was born in London and studied at the South Kensington Schools (winning several major prizes) and subsequently in Antwerp and Paris. In 1888 he married a Miss Trehair and they had two children, Charlotte and Arthur. Arthur later became the distinguished Royal Academician Arthur Ralph Middleton Todd. In 1892 he spent some time working in Northern France, as did many of his contemporaries from the Antwerp and Paris Schools. Stanhope Forbes, who lived in the same hotel as Todd in Quimperlé, became a close friend and Blandford Fletcher was also staying there. Todd arrived in Newlyn in 1883, shared a studio with Fred Millard and remained in Newlyn until 1912. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1885 and continued to exhibit there and also at the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, the New Watercolour Society and the Royal Society of British Artists, as well as extensively in the provinces.