He was born on 30 January 1819 in Dublin and entered the WM ministry in Ireland in 1844. He emigrated to America in 1850 and pioneered MEC missions in India (1856-64) and in Mexico (1873-78). He had a broad vision of mission. In India, for example, he advocated the use of printing presses, schools, orphanages and agricultural projects as well as preaching. He saw the education of women as a priority. In Mexico he advocated the promotion of evangelical concerns among Roman Catholics in a 'Christian and unsectarian manner', rather than by confrontational methods. He died on 18 August 1899.