 For many years he was closely identified with the commercial and industrial life of West Riding of Yorkshire, and he owned extensive estates.He was chairman of several coal and iron companies, and Director of the Great Northern Railway.In politics, he was elected as a Member of Parliament for Leeds in the 1874 general election, but served only one term as the constituency adopted the former (and future) Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone as their candidate in 1880.