Born at Bishopton, near Ripon, the son of a wheelwright, he became a miller at Guisborough and then, in 1766, at Hartlepool, where he rebuilt and enlarged an old mill, prospering through hard work, skill and frugality. Without losing his attachment to the Church of England, he became associated with Methodism, initiating its work in Hartlepoo], where he built their first preaching house, and elsewhere in the circuit. Noted for his generosity to charitable causes, it was said of him that he 'would rather relieve two impostors than leave one fit object of compassion unnoticed'. His four sons were all brought up as Methodists.