sentences:  A lawyer, he was head of the firm Butler and Payne of Belleville, Ontario, he was a Belleville alderman for five years and Mayor of the City of Belleville, Ontario in 1891.He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons for the electoral district of Hastings West in a 1902 by-election, after the sitting MP, Henry Corby, resigned.A Conservative, he was re-elected in the following six federal elections.