However, the family returned to Australia because the northern climate did not agree with his health, and he subsequently attended Melbourne Church of England Grammar School.

When he came into possession of a property left to him by his father, he mostly rented it to dairy farmers, to whom he later sold the land on liberal terms.

He retired in 1903 due to ill health, but in 1913 was persuaded to oppose the sitting Labor member, future Prime Minister James Scullin, representing the Commonwealth Liberal Party.

He defeated Scullin in the election of that year, and held the seat until his unexpected death from pneumonia on 30 October 1918, during a voyage to North America.

In 1921, a statue of Manifold by Nelson Illingworth was unveiled at Camperdown by Prime Minister Stanley Bruce.