He spent much of his early life in Yorkshire, attending the Cathedral Grammar School in Durham from 1806. He then attended St Johns College in Cambridge University, graduating in 1816. He was then appointed Curate of Redden, Somerset. In 1824 he came to Edinburgh to serve as Curate to St George's on York Place before being appointed minister of St. John's Episcopal Church on Princes Street in 1830, where he then remained until death. This appointment followed the death of Bishop Daniel Sandford, founder of the church. His house from this period was a very large townhouse on the edge of the Moray Estate, 7 Darnaway Street, only five minutes walk from his church through Charlotte Square.