He was born at Harbridge in the English county of Hampshire in 1796 and educated in Ambleside.

He studied law at the Middle Temple and was called to the English bar in 1823.

In 1829, he was appointed Puisne judge and Chief Justice of Dominica; his wife remained in England.

He was named Attorney General of Upper Canada in the same year and arrived in York (Toronto) in June.

He died in Toronto in 1854 of tuberculosis and left his possessions to Reverend George Maynard who cared for him at the end of his life.