Born near Pontefract, where he was educated. He was practising about 1840 at Broughton, Manchester, also in Salford. Owing to failing health he retired about 1875. He won considerable distinction as a botanist, making a collection of rushes and mosses from the neighbourhood. He accompanied the botanist, Schimper of Strasbourg, on botanical expeditions in Wales and Scotland. His collection of mosses were arranged according to Schimper's Classification. His publication *Flora Mancuniensis* (1840) preceded the *Flora* of Richard Buxton. Failing eyesight as well as failing health prevented a continuance of his botanical studies in later life, and he died at Swinbourne Grove, Withington, in February, 1890.