He studied art and design at the government school in Newcastle, and
attended evening classes at the Life School under William Bell Scott.
After serving his apprenticeship, Hedley established himself as a
successful painter of portraits and landscapes, as well as an
accomplished woodcarver. Examples of his wood carving work can be found
in both St Andrew's Church and The Cathedral Church of St Nicholas in
Newcastle, where he designed the chancel. Hedley first started
exhibiting his paintings in Newcastle in 1878. He was a member of the
Royal Society of British Artists, Vice-President of the South Shields
Art Club, and had more than forty of his paintings displayed at the
Royal Academy between 1879 and 1904. Today, Hedley's paintings are
appreciated for the record they provide of everyday life in Tyneside in
the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Even at the time of Hedley's
death in June 1913, the Newcastle Daily Chronicle recognised the value
of his work, arguing that "What Burns did for the peasantry of
Scotland with his pen, Ralph Hedley with his brush and palette had done
for the Northumberland miner and labouring man".
