Hilder was born on Long Island, USA, of Kentish stock, and came to England with his family in 1915. He attended Goldsmiths School of Art where he studied drawing and etching, and was influenced by Frank Brangwyn and Muirhead Bone. He illustrated books about aspects of the English countryside and became well known for his pictures of rural Kent which look back to the pre-industrial age, as well as marine subjects.

This early work was made over a period of years between 1927 and 1935 and shows shipping moored to the famous public house at Rotherhithe on the south bank of the Thames.