Having been involved in the labour movement from an early age, he was president of the North Adelaide district branch of the ASE in 1914, and was an unsuccessful Labor candidate for Barossa at the 1915 state election and for Wakefield at the 1917 federal election.
Having been involved in the labour movement from an early age, he was president of the North Adelaide district branch of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers in 1914 and secretary of its political section in 1917. He was an unsuccessful Labor candidate for Barossa at the 1915 state election, which he reportedly rode over 2000 miles during the campaign, and again for Wakefield at the 1917 federal election.