 A lawyer, he ran unsuccessfully as the Liberal candidate for the House of Commons of Canada for the electoral district of Colchester in the 1882 federal election.He was elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly for Colchester in 1886 and was re-elected in 1890, 1894, 1897 and 1901.A Nova Scotia Liberal, he was Speaker of the House of Assembly from 1895 to 1901 and from 1903 to 1904.