'HJ' King was an amateur photographer and field naturalist, who supported his interests by employment in the family cycle business. He was a member of the Northern Tasmania Camera Club, the Royal Society of Tasmania, the Launceston Field Naturalists' Club, and the Launceston Cine Society and honorary photographer for the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery.

He married Lucy Minna Large in 1918, and produced a series of colour movies on natural history during the years of World War 2.

He died in Launceston.