He migrated to Australia in 1838, arriving in Melbourne and working in the timber industry on the Clarence River in New South Wales for a short period.
He then became an actor under the stage name of Morton King, performing variously in Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne, largely in Shakespearean plays.
He moved to Port Adelaide for a time, but returned to Melbourne in 1853, becoming a successful auctioneer and estate agent in a partnership in Bourke Street and then as a broker doing substantial business with the Chinese merchant community.
[1][2][5][6][7][8] King went into politics in 1859, and was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for West Bourke from 1859 to 1861, 1864 to 1874 and 1875 to 1877 and for Footscray from 1877 until his death in 1879.
His last acting role was in a fundraising performance of The Merchant of Venice with other parliamentarians at the Theatre Royal in April 1861, in which he played Shylock.