[1] Watkins was born in Wolverhampton, England, and studied at the South Kensington Art School in London.
[2] He arrived in Sydney in 1882, and undertook further studies at the Royal Art Society of New South Wales (RAS) school under Julian Ashton, A. J. Daplyn and Frank P.
[2] For many years the J. S. Watkins Art School was located at Margaret Street, Sydney.
He was just as interested in music as in art and he was widely read on an astonishing variety of subjects.
[4] A retrospective exhibition of some 60 of his works was held at the National Art Gallery in June 1943.