He attended Melbourne Technical College, and from 1933 to 1948 was a municipal officer for Brunswick City Council.
After World War II Meagher briefly ran a newsagency, milk bar and grocery in the Melbourne suburb of Beaumaris, Victoria.
He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire and awarded the Efficiency Decoration for his service.
In 1955 he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as the Liberal and Country Party member for Mentone, and transferred to Frankston in 1967.
Meagher, who always positioned himself to the right of the Liberal Party, once famously said: "I didn't get filled full of bullet holes on the Burma Railway to see a bunch of socialists take over this country".