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Educated at the High School, apprenticed to a coach painter then attended Trustees Academy alongside Wilkie. Like Wilkie, he attended the Royal Academy Schools and then embarked upon a period of travel in St Petersburg and Turkey remaining abroad for nine years. In 1814 returned to Edinburgh and began to exhibit at the RSA Annual Exhibitions in 1830 and continued to exhibit until 1850. He was elected an Associate Member of the RSA in 1826 and an Academician in 1835. In 1835 he became a Royal Academician. He became the President of the RSA in 1837, succeeded Wilkie as the Queen's Limner in Scotland in 1842 and was Master of the Trustees Academy from 1826 until 1844. On 1838-03-09 upwards of 200 persons attended a public dinner to Sir William in the Assembly Rooms, George, St, Edinburgh to mark his election as President of the Royal Scottish Academy. (vide extensive coverage in The Caledonian Mercury, 1838-03-10) The same paper 1843-12-02 also reports on Allan's resignation as Master of the Trustees Academy. "THE LATE SIR WILLIAM ALLAN P . R . S . A ., &c . — In the short memoir of Sir William Allan, copied in our last, it is mentioned that he studied for several years at the Trustees' Academy, commencing on the day that Graham entered on his duties as master, at which time Wilkie also entered as a student. The following extract from the records of the Academy, giving the names of all those admitted as students on the day mentioned, is worth quoting : — "27 Novr 1799 —John Houston, WILLIAM ALLAN, Charles Carfrae, Norman Galloway, Charles Wise , and William Donaldson, who are, or mean to be, coach painters; John Martin, Thomas Brown, James Torrance—engravers on copper ; and David Tomson, DAVID WILKIE, William Wilson, who propose being rtists." It may be added that the minute is in the handwriting of the now veteran Mr George Thomson, the early and well-known correspondent of Burns. (The Scotsman, 1850-03-02, transcribed by RSA Documentation Officer 2020-08-10) "FUNERAL OF SIR WILLIAM ALLAN , P . R . S . A . —The remains of this distinguished artist were conveyed yesterday to their resting-place. The funeral was, as much as possible, a private one. The Academicians and Associates of the Royal Scottish Academy, of which Sir William was the President, assembled in the Royal Institution, and proceeded from thence in mourning coaches, to the residence of the deceased in Great King Street where they joined the other friends. The place of sepulture was the Dean Cemetery, and the body was conveyed thither in a hearse drawn by four horses. Out of respect to the memory of the deceased, the exhibition of the Academy at the Royal Institution was closed during the whole of yesterday." (The Scotsman, 1850-03-02, transcribed by RSA Documentation Officer 2020-08-10)