As a young adult he spent much of his time travelling and studying in Europe, mainly in Germany, Austria and Italy.
In 1905 he joined the editorial staff of the Globe, during which time he also worked on his six-volume history, The English People Overseas.
In 1915 he was appointed editor of the Evening Standard, but presumed tuberculosis forced him to reduce his journalistic commitments the following year.
A frequent contributor to The Edinburgh Review and The Nineteenth Century, he had a thirty-five-year association with The Glasgow Herald as a reviewer, special correspondent and (from 1944) a leader-writer.
Married to Kathleen (née Brewer) for thirty-nine years, he had three children and eight grandchildren.