Primitive Methodist, born in Derby on 5 August 1880 . He worked on the railways, was an active trade unionist and served as a town councillor. Elected to represent Kettering in 1918, he was the Co-operative Party's first MP, but took the Labour whip before there was any formal alliance between the two parties. In Parliament he criticised British military intervention in the USSR and the Black and Tans in Ireland, basing his political attitudes on 'the teachings of the man of Nazareth'.
Losing his seat in the 1922 general election, he stood unsuccessfully both in 1930 and 1931, and became a national organiser for the Co-operative Party until 1940. He died at Wood Green on 25 November 1964.