[1] Educated in the public schools of Newport, Prouty attended St. Johnsbury Academy,[2] graduated from Boston's Bryant & Stratton Commercial College, and was employed in the family business, Prouty and Miller, a sawmill and building supply company.

[6] He favored employers' liability law, and during his administration, the state legislature adopted his suggestion to put the Vermont Railroad Commission under a Public Service Commission designed to supervise all public service corporations.

[7] In July 1909, Prouty made news when he posted bail for his chauffeur, who had been accused of striking and killing a St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, man in Burlington during celebrations for the Lake Champlain Tercentenary.

[8][9][10] During Prouty's governorship, his Secretary of Civil and Military Affairs (chief assistant) was Aaron H. Grout.

[11] Prouty was killed in Waterville, Quebec, on August 8, 1918, when his chauffeur-driven car was hit by a train as he traveled from Newport to Lennoxville, Quebec, to board a train he was going to take to a business meeting in Maine.