He trained as a veterinarian under his father at the original college location in Gayfield House, and also at the national French Veterinary School at Alfort.
Then from 1886 worked with his father at the Williams Veterinary College on Elm Row at the top of Leith Walk.
He left Edinburgh in 1905 to become Professor of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery at Liverpool University following the closure of the Williams College on Leith Walk in 1904.
[1] He died suddenly at his home in New Ferry in Liverpool on 7 November 1911 aged only 50.
They appear to have lived with William's father at a large Georgian house at 24 London Street for many years.