Kerr was born on 7 February 1853 at Beadnell, Northumberland, England and after training to become a blacksmith moved to Queensland in 1877.

Kerr became involved in local politics for the Labor, and in 1893 he was elected to represent the electoral district of Barcoo in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland and served in that post until 1909.

[1] Kerr's leadership was complicated by a split in the party in 1905 in which he and other senior Labor figures opted to form a coalition with the Liberal Party to achieve statewide reforms.

Although initially he commanded the confidence of the party, a state conference of the party in 1907 rejected Kerr's leadership and the Liberal-Labor coalition, opting to go into the 1907 state election alone.

Kerr died on 18 January 1930 in Brisbane[3] and was buried in Toowong Cemetery.