Bus driver. Educated at Snow Street public school, Newcastle upon Tyne, England, Aldridge public school, Staffordshire and Workers' Educational Association from 1930 until 1937; father killed in battle of Somme; arrived in New South Wales with family in 1921; joined Transport Department in Newcastle in 1921 as a shop boy, then junior motor cleaner to September 1923; worked at Stockton Borehole Colliery for a short period; rejoined Transport Department as a motor cleaner in 1924, tram conductor at Newcastle and Sydney from 1927 until 1941; rejoined Transport Department as a tram driver, then as a bus driver until resignation to enter Parliament. Joined Australian Tramway and Omnibus Union in 1922, committee member from 1930 until 1935, executive officer from 1936 until 1939, life member; delegate to federal conferences and to the Trades and Labor Council (TLC), Newcastle and Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU); parliamentary delegate to South Eastern Asian Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference, Wellington, New Zealand in 1971; Freemason.