Uppill was born into a farming family at Nantawarra, South Australia and was educated at Balaklava Public School and then privately.

Uppill also served as secretary of the Balaklava branch of the Agricultural Bureau and president and secretary of the Balaklava and Dalkey Agricultural Society, and was the inaugural chairman of the Balaklava branch of the Liberal and Country League in 1932.

He resigned his seat due to ill health in 1944, necessitating the appointment of Ted Mattner to succeed him.

[2] He was largely interested in agricultural issues, in particular wheat farming, and upon his resignation his party's Senate leader, George McLeay, said of Uppill's Senate service that his "knowledge of the practical problems of the man on the land has been of considerable value in the improvement of agricultural legislation.

[5][6] He died at an St Anthony's Private Hospital in the Adelaide suburb of Joslin in 1946 after a long illness and was buried at North Road Cemetery.