| 1793 | Born in London, the son of James Earl, an American portrait painter, and Caroline Smyth |
| 1806 | Began to exhibit regularly at the Royal Academy, London |
| 1815-16 | Obtained a passage on a storeship bound for Sicily and Malta; also visited Gibraltar and North Africa en route |
| 1817 | Returned to England |
| 1818 | Left for New York in March and then moved to Philadelphia; exhibited two paintings at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts |
| 1820 | In February, sailed for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Visited Chile in June and was resident in Lima, Peru from July to December. Left for Rio de Janeiro aboard the HMS Hyperion on 10 December |
| 1824 | Joined the Duke of Gloucester in February bound for the Cape of Good Hope and thence to Calcutta (with offers of introduction to Lord Amherst, who had just been appointed Governor of India); on 26 March went ashore at Tristan da Cunha and was stranded there until his rescue by the Admiral Cockburn on 29 November |
| 1825 | Reached Hobart on 18 January; then left for Sydney aboard the brig Cyprus and arrived there on 14 May |
| 1826 | Journeyed inland to the Blue Mountains, Bathurst and the Wellington Valley, and the Hunter River. Then travelled north of Sydney as far as Port Stephens and Port Macquarie |
| 1827 | In April and May, went south to the Illawarra district; left Sydney for New Zealand aboard the Governor Macquarie on 20 October. Only visited that part of the North Island between the Hokianga and the Bay of Islands area during his six-month sojourn |
| 1828 | Returned to Sydney on the Governor Macquarie on 5 May 1828. Finally left Sydney on 12 October on the Rainbow bound for India via the Caroline Islands, Guam, Manila and Singapore. After establishing a reputation in Madras, was forced to leave for health reasons and travelled back to England on two different ships via Mauritius and St Helena. Arrived home in late 1829 |
| 1831 | Joined HMS Beagle, a survey ship, in Plymouth as `Artist Supernumerary with victuals'
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| 1832 | Reached Rio de Janeiro on 4 April but continued ill health again forced his return to England |
| 1838 | Died in London on 10 December of `asthma and debility' |