He attended local state schools before working as an estate agent and plumber, eventually joining the navy.
In his early years he developed both his penchant for self-education and his boxing skills.
On 12 March 1910 he married Frances Annie Barratt at St James Old Cathedral.
In 1914 he became first secretary of the Building Trades Federation, and in March 1918 he sat on the Shipbuilding Tribunal.
He served on the federal executive (1929–31, 1932) and ran for preselection for Bendigo in 1928, unsuccessfully contesting Henty in 1929.