 He was a member of St Chad's College.He began his ministry as a curate at Newark and was then successively vicar of Worksop (1942), Rural Dean of Mansfield (1946), Director of Religious Education in the Diocese of Carlisle and Archdeacon of Westmorland and Furness (c.1950) before his ordination to the episcopate, initially as the Suffragan Bishop of Penrith (1959–1966) and then as Bishop of Carlisle (1966–1972).In 1972 he was an awarded an honorary doctorate by Durham.