Born in Zorra Township, Canada West, he was first ran for the House of Commons of Canada in the riding of Oxford South in the 1908 federal election. He was defeated but was elected in the 1911 federal election. A Conservative, he was re-elected in 1917, 1921, and 1925.
The passage describes a politician who first ran for office in 1908 and was defeated but later won the election in 1911, becoming a Conservative representative. He was re-elected in subsequent years.