He was educated at Silcoates School, Wakefield, and at Trinity College, Dublin,[1] where he was friendly with William Digby Seymour.
in 1843 he entered the Lancashire Independent College, Manchester, where he had as contemporaries Robert Alfred Vaughan and Enoch Mellor; the latter appears to have influenced him most.
Leaving in 1845, he was ordained on 15 April 1846, and became minister of St. James's chapel, Newcastle-on-Tyne, where he had to combat the rationalistic spirit engendered by Joseph Barker and came under the spell of Edward Miall.
His influence extended, and he came to be regarded as the representative of sober yet convinced nonconformity, and was trusted as such by leading authorities in church and state.
He is best remembered for his close association with Dr. Robert William Dale in the Liberal and Nonconformist education and disestablishment campaigns of 1865–75,[1] that resulted in the Irish Church Act 1869; and for his friendship with Gladstone and Lord Rosebery, who consulted him as the foremost representative of Nonconformist political opinion.