 He was educated in Paisley and he arrived in Australia sometime before 1864 and took up mining at Gympie.He was an employee at the Queensland Meat Export and Agriculture Co. in Brisbane and Townsville, and from 1902 was the manager at the Lake's Creek Meatworks in Rockhampton.He was married to Margaret Mills Dale (d.1931) and died at Wooloowin in Brisbane in June 1917.