He worked as an engineer and manager (at Tewgoed (or 'Terrgoed') Colliery at Cwmafan); then underground surveyor to William Chambers of Llanelli; and finally, at Abercrave colliery, iron works, iron mines, and limestone quarries while maintaining an active interest in natural history, especially botany (he left a herbarium at the Royal Institution of South Wales, Swansea), and folklore.
Born in Abercrave, Wales, he moved to Marylebone, London at the age of five, then moved again with his family to the Canadian mining town of Wayne, Alberta in 1920.