Born in Buckinghamshire, Hall worked from the age of nine, initially plaiting straw, then as a farm labourer.
[1][2] Hall left Glasgow to work as a miner in North Staffordshire, and he then relocated to a pit in Pendleton.
[3] He then stood in Salford South at the 1892 UK general election, Robert Cunninghame-Graham chairing a meeting on his behalf, at which he stresses that Hall was a worker, not a paid activist.
[4] Hall came bottom of the poll with 553 votes, which was widely considered to have cost the Liberal Party candidate the seat.
[5] Disappointed by his performance, Hall became a founder of the Manchester Independent Labour Party, but then became interested in anarchism.