He obtained work in the Postmaster General's Office as a telegraph boy, before entering the commonwealth public service as an audit inspector.
[1] During this time he joined the Labor Party, and was both president of the Metropolitan Council and a member of the state executive.
He was selected to run for the party at a by-election on 18 November 1922 in East Perth, following the resignation of J. J. Simons, and won the seat.
Having unsuccessfully contested elections for his old seat in 1930, and for West Province in the legislative council in 1934, he was successful in unseating Kenneally, by this stage a minister in the Collier government.
He died aged 88 at the Home of Peace in Subiaco, and was buried in the Uniting Church section of Karrakatta Cemetery.