John Auld was born in 1844 in Stogumber, Somerset where his father was schoolmaster. His family moved to Lewisham and Auld first exhibited in London at the Royal Society of British Artists in 1869. He continued to exhibit in London and elsewhere until just before his death in 1911. His early exhibited paintings were history subjects but from about 1875 he largely concentrated on urban scenes, especially of London and the area of the Thames near Greenwich. He lived in Blackheath.