Sources are at variance whether Peele was two or twelve years of age, when his parents brought him to the United States. They lived in Buffalo, New York. Although Peele's only training as an artist seems to have been an opportunity to watch an itinerant portrait painter, he set up his own practice as a portraitist. By 1840 he had moved to New York, for in that year he enrolled in the Academy's antique school and exhibited for the first time in its annual, a Pastoral Landscape. He seems to have gone to Albany, New York, within the year to work as a portrait painter, remained in Albany for two years, and then passed several years in London. He could not afford to study there in any regular way, however, he surely must have polished his skills by observation and copying.
Peele was back in New York by the spring of 1845, when he made his second appearance in an Academy annual. He then commenced a career as a specialist in ideal subjects, almost always featuring children, which by their quality as well as charm of subject gained him quick success. In late 1851 or early 1852 he chose to return to England to pursue his career. He was in London to about 1856, and then moved to Liverpool for a stay of two years. He next settled on the Isle of Man, where he remained to about 1866; thereafter he lived in London. Peele maintained a favorable reputation for his ideal pictures of children and also seems to have returned successfully to portraiture, but, not surprisingly, also as specialist in children. His works were frequently exhibited at the British Institution, the Royal Academy, and the Society of British Artists, however he also continued to send his paintings to America, especially to the Academy's annual exhibitions, where his work was last seen in 1885. He last exhibited in London in 1891.
