Born into a PM family at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, at the age of 11 he became a quarry worker like his father, but within a year had become a miner at Heworth Colliery. In 1865 when a lodge of the Durham Miners Association was formed, he was appointed its first secretary. From 1857 he served theunion as agent for South West Durham, becoming Financial Secretary in 1872, Vice- President from 1878 and General Secretary from 1890 until his death, during which time the union association joined the Miners' Federation.