A Primitive Methodist local preacher for fifty-seven years and Vice President of the 1912 Conference, was born in Sunderland on 1 May 1863. His father owned a tug boat at Monkwearmouth. Although baptized an Anglican, he was associated with Williamson Terrace PM chapel, and was mainly responsible for its rebuilding in 1881. After a school education he was apprenticed for five years to John Eggleston, a draper of Fawcett Street before opening his own business first in Dundas Street and then in North Bridge Street.
He was elected as a Liberal councillor for the Monkwearmouth West Ward and was later an alderman, being Mayor in 1912, 1930 and 1932, and a JP from 1915. A staunch teetotaller, he forbade alcoholic drinks being served at functions. A Freemason, he served a term as lodge master. He died at his home at Roker Park on 20 November 1937.