Hilda Ross’s early childhood was spent in Sydney and then Auckland, where she studied music. After her marriage in 1904, she moved to Hamilton where she taught music while raising two sons. She quickly became involved in community affairs, particularly helping in fundraising with a special interest in causes affecting the well-being of children. During the 1918 influenza epidemic she helped nurse the sick, and experiences of the plight of many families at that time may have influenced her in founding the Waikato Health Camp movement, in which she continued to take an active role throughout her life.

Widowed in 1940, in 1941 she became a member of the Hamilton Hospital Board and soon after was elected Hamilton’s first woman borough councillor. During the war she was instrumental in organising patriotic work and in 1945 was elected to Parliament, holding the seat until her death. In 1949 she was appointed Minister for the Welfare of Women and Children - a new post without a department, but one which gave her scope to speak in cabinet on behalf of those constituencies. In 1957 she was made Minister of Social Security, and in 1952 represented New Zealand at the Geneva meeting of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women – a foundation meeting which laid the ground for far-reaching international covenants. Hilda Ross was forthright, friendly, and practical, with great respect for all people, and in her turn was widely respected. Never a myopic political partisan, she sought co-operation among all women in parliament and worked for the interests of the community as a whole.