Pastoralist and landed proprietor. Educated under the Reverend John Eyre and at the Reverend Frederick Wilkinson's school; and followed pastoral and agricultural pursuits from an early age. He Lived near Goulburn for a while, but made Parramatta his headquarters. In the 1840s he bought land in the Nineteen Counties in partnership with his brother Francis. By 1854 he had four runs in Wellington District totalling 132,400 acres; by 1859 he held 138,4000 acres in this district. In the 1840s he held his runs in partnership with J. F. Josephson, a fellow Member of Parliament; by 1871 he had five runs in Bligh and Wellington Districts. He visited Europe for some years after his electoral defeat of 1860. In the 1870s he was a director of the Australian Gas Light Company; and on the council of the Agricultural Society of New South Wales. In 1876 he was the representative commissioner for New South Wales at the Paris and Philadelphia Exhibitions, returning to New South Wales in 1876. He was a member of the Anti-Transportation League in the late 1840s and early 1850s; a life member of the British and Foreign Bible Society; on the committees of the Parramatta Benevolent Asylum and the District Hospital; and he condemned the activities of the local Protestant Political Association in 1869. He was nominated to the Legislative Council in the attempt to 'swamp' it on 10 May 1861, but was unable to take his seat. He refused to accept his appointment to the Legislative Council in June 1861 because he was unable to accept the Cowper ministry's conditions.