He was born in Enniskillen in County Fermanagh, Ireland, to farmer William Latimer and Sarah Ann Fleming.
He attended the Erasmus Smith school near Florencecourt and was then apprenticed to a softgoods trader at the age of fifteen.
After his apprenticeship was complete he worked in Glasgow for two years and then in Dublin before managing a large warehouse in Northern Ireland in 1880.
He worked at Perry and Company until he assumed control of the Woollahra branch of the business in 1886.
In 1920, with the introduction of proportional representation leading to his seat's abolition, Latimer was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council.