He entered Trinity College, Dublin, on 7 June 1779, and afterwards studied medicine at Edinburgh University, where he graduated M.D.
After visiting the medical schools of Paris and Leyden he returned to Dublin, and was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy.
After several years he retired to England, served in the home district, and then went as staff physician to Jamaica.
After two years he returned to England in ill health, and on recovery joined the army in the Peninsula, where the Marquis of Wellington in 1812 appointed him physician in chief to the allied forces.
On 18 January 1816 he was nominated a deputy medical inspector, and retired on half pay.