1881, Toowoomba, Qld – 1916, Hornsby, NSW

Jesse Jewhurst Hilder was born in Toowoomba, where he attended Toowoomba North State School until the family moved, around 1890, to Brisbane. He then attended the Fortitude Valley State School and later won a scholarship to attend Brisbane Grammar School. He joined the State Bank of New South Wales in 1898 and two years later was transferred to Sydney, also working for the bank in Goulburn, Bega, Wyalong and Young. Tuberculosis forced his retirement from the bank in 1909 and painting became his only source of income. Hilder had begun part-time study at Sydney’s Julian Ashton Art School in 1906, and the following year, 21 of his paintings sold at the Society of Artists Exhibition. Hilder died of pulmonary tuberculosis on 10 April 1916 in Hornsby in Sydney.