He was deeply involved in the conservation of forests in southern Africa and the introduction of exotic species such as Eucalyptus to Zululand.

[1] When the Anglo-Boer War broke out he served in the Stutterheim Mounted Troops as captain and was awarded the Queen's Medal.

[1][2] In 1920 he took up an appointment as chief of the newly established Forest Service of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).

[1] He remained in Rhodesia until his retirement in 1931, after which he settled in Pietermaritzburg and wrote a field guide to the woody plants of Natal.

He was a personal friend of John William Bews and assisted him in his investigations of the ecology of the Natal vegetation.