Born at Newton Abbot, of a Methodist father and Anglican mother, he grew up in Union Street Methodist Church, Torquay and was educated at Torquay Grammar School. After National Service he gained a BA (Econ) at Manchester University in 1951, to which he added an MA (Econ) in 1963. His career in the Civil Service included the Admiralty, the Colonial Office, the Central Statistical Office, the DEA and the Treasury. From 1972 to 1979 he was Assistant Director of the Central Statistical Office. From 1979 to 1982 he was Group Chief Economist to Lucas Industries. In retirement he was an economic and business consultant, specializing in economic modelling, analysis and forecasting for local authorities.
A succession of innovative leadership roles in his local church and circuit included a Sunday Night Group for young adults at Hinde Street, London. Connexionally he served on the committee of the former Christian Citizenship Department (later the Social Responsibility Division), and as treasurer of the Board of Lay Training 1967-1973. As the first treasurer of the Division of Ministries 1973-1978, he faced a major crisis arising from the burgeoning cost of ministerial training and was concerned at what he believed to be a virtual monopoly over local fund-raising by the two major Divisions of Home and Overseas Missions.
His wisdom and expertise have continued to be at the service of Methodism and its ecumenical partners. A lifelong interest in the relationship between economics and Christian theology bore fruit in All Good Gifts (1978) and Economics, Society and Values (1995) and, with Kenneth Wilson and Raymond Clarke, in the creation in 1982 of the Hinksey Centre (now Network), to express a Christian concern for public issues.