Born at Disley, Cheshire on 6 June 1910, the son of a blacksmith. He was educated at New Mills and at Manchester University, where he gained a BSc in 1931. His first employers, ICI, sent him to Fitswilliam College, Cambridge, where his research won him a PhD in 1936 and a ScD in 1947. He became Director of Research with the British Rubber Products Research Association and Professor of Physical Chemistry at Manchester from 1955 to 1977, a period of university development during which he was twice pro-Vice-Chancellor. He was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1951 and CBE in 1958, and was President of the Faraday Society in 1969. His theological interest showed itself in his conversation as well as in his membership of the Manson Theological Society. He and his wife were members of the Cheadle Hulme Methodist Church. He was one of the contributors to the Home Mission's book God of Science, God of Faith (1988). He died on 13 December 1996.