Ardagh was born in Red Jacket, Victoria, a small settlement on the Jordan River south of Woods Point.
Ardagh moved to Western Australia in 1895, during the gold rush, and began working as an engine driver at Kalgoorlie.
[2] Ardagh eventually entered parliament at the 1912 Legislative Council election, winning a seat in North-East Province for the Labor Party.
[1] He attempted to re-enter parliament at the 1927 state election, standing for the Nationalist Party in the seat of Menzies.
He lost to Labor's Alexander Panton, but stood again in 1930, in the metropolitan seat of Middle Swan.