He was born in Kent but moved to Ipswich by 1852 where he taught drawing and set up studio in the Butter Market. Although originally a portrait painter, when the number of portrait commissions declined owing to the spread of photography, he started to specialise in painting horses, but also painted landscapes, sporting and rustic subjects. He provided illustrations for the Suffolk Horse Society’s Stud Book. He exhibited works at the Royal Academy, the British Institute and the Royal Society of British Artists. He was part of the “Suffolk School” of painting.
In 1875 he became the first chairperson of the Ipswich Fine Art Club of which he remained a member until 1889
