 He was an accountant and active member of Poplar Trades Council (and later served as its president) and was elected as an alderman to Poplar Borough Council in 1919.He served as mayor in 1922–1923, vice-chairman (1920–1922) and chairman (1922–1923) of the Metropolitan Boroughs Standing Joint Committee, and an alderman of London County Council from 1925 to 1929.In 1921, he was imprisoned, along with 29 other Poplar councillors, as a protest against unequal rates.