He was born in Obley to police sergeant John Shillington and Maria, née Oates.
During World War I he served in Gallipoli and France and rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel before being invalided home.
In 1919 he was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the Nationalist member for Petersham; the next year he moved to Western Suburbs with the introduction of proportional representation, but he lost his seat in 1922.
Called to the Bar in 1923, he practiced as a barrister before becoming resident magistrate and acting judge at Rabaul in Papua New Guinea in 1926.
He died in 1931 at Darlinghurst, survived by his second wife, Frances Margaret Glasson, whom he had married in 1929, and their son.