Born in Abernethy, he received a primary education before becoming a stonemason.

He married Scottish born Mary Anne Grant (born Kearney)[1] and she was one of the six women elected to the New South Wales Labor Party's executive in January 1906.

The other five were Kate Dwyer, Harriet Powell, the 1903 parliamentary candidate Selina Siggins, the American born A. E. Gardiner, Edith Bethel and Maggie Hall.

Defeated in 1919, he returned to the Senate in 1922, holding the seat until his death in 1928.

[1][3] This article about an Australian Labor Party member of the Senate is a stub.