Career
He took a particular interest in India. Born in Witton Park, County Durham, he went to Elmfield College, York, and came from a family of Primitive Methodists. An engineer by training, he later went into business as a builder"s merchant.
Before entering politics he was a lay preacher in the Methodist Church.
In parliament, he found himself at odds with many Labour MPs and contemplated joining the Liberals. He was the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury and Chief Whip in 1924, when he was made a Privy Councillor.
He had suffered from poor health since contracting malaria at Salonika during World War I. On a visit to London in December 1928, he was found dead in bed at the Regent Palace Hotel. His death, it was decided, was due to syncope from disease of the heart and liver, due to chronic alcoholism.