He was born in Bathurst to farmers Patrick and Elizabeth Booth, and attended school locally and then at Cooks River.
He was also involved in agriculture and local politics, becoming an alderman and later mayor of Dubbo.
In 1891 he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the Free Trade member for Bogan.
He shot himself in the head with a pistol while being driven through The Domain in a horse-drawn cab.
A coronial inquest returned a verdict of suicide, and evidence was heard that he had been depressed and suffered from insomnia for some time before his death.