Following the election, a series of poor export conditions, busted land booms and failed financial institutions plunged much of eastern Australia into recession.
In 1898, he became a foundation member of the state branch of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Employees, and took a leading role in obtaining official recognition for the body.
The sitting member, Thomas Leishman Brown, won the preselection, but lost the election to the Ministerial (later Liberal) candidate Henry Carson.
He enjoyed the support of the Geraldton Express newspaper, edited by John Drew, a member of the Legislative Council who was later to join the Labor Party.
He was never in very good health, but worked tirelessly to assist Labor candidates at the 1913 federal election, and continued with his commitments in the Geraldton community.
Eventually, he was admitted to St Omar's Hospital in Havelock Street, West Perth, where he died of tuberculosis of the throat on 19 October 1913, aged 46.