He was educated at the Pimlico Grammar School, at St. Edmund's College, Old Hall, Hertfordshire, and at the institution of L'Abbé Haffrénique at Boulogne.
Sir Henry Bishop was his instructor in an elementary course of harmony, and for a few months he resided with John Barnett at Cheltenham studying instrumentation.
In his twenty-first year he composed a Stabat Mater, which was performed at the Hanover Square Rooms on 15 March 1845, with much success.
His principal compositions were "The Queen of a Day," a comic opera, and "A Summer Night's Love," an operetta, both produced at the Haymarket.
His works were distinguished by an intelligence that gave promise of great excellence had he lived to fully master the technicalities of his art.