Active as a Lawyer, politician, and judge, he was the son of Amelia Prince Small and Wesley West, was born at Cole's Island, Queens County, New Brunswick on 20 December 1892.
Although politics interested him from a young age, he followed his father's and grandfather's affiliation to the Progressive Conservative Party, it was only through an uncle that the law suggested itself as an option.
Called to the New Brunswick bar in 1923, he practised law, first at Woodstock (1923-1928) and then in Fredericton under the firm name Hanson, Dougherty & West.
He served overseas in England and France with the artillery, a signal corps, and Canadian engineers during the First World War, including duty at Vimy and Paschendale.
He served as Attorney General in Hugh John Flemming's cabinet until 1958, when he was appointed to the Appeals Division of the New Brunswick Supreme Court.