Born at Ashbourne, Derbyshire, on 1 April1932, he read Modern History at Keble College, Oxford and later received a PhD from Keele University in 1969. He became a local preacher, then was ordained as a non-stipendiary minister in the United Reformed Church in the Cheshire area. When 'Ministers in Local Appointment' came in, he transferred back to Methodism, serving from 1983 until his sudden death on 10 December 1997.
He was a history teacher, then lectured at Padgate College of Education, and lectured for Manchester University on the Reformation. His writings included Victorian Nonconformity, with John Briggs (1973), Nineteenth-Century Nonconformity (1977) and a section on eighteenth-century Methodism in the Documentary History of Nonconformity.