He introduced many innovations including a road network, schools and clinics, chiefdom and sector councils, and cotton plantations.

In 1889 he entered the Military Academy, and was among the leading students when he graduated and was posted on 29 December 1893 to the 1st Line Regiment in Ghent.

Although suffering from hematuria, he went to Bas-Congo and took command of the Cataractes District, where he built a 21 kilometres (13 mi) road between Tumba and Kitobola.

He returned to Belgium in 1915 to rejoin the Belgian army, but instead was assigned to Elisabethville to serve as interim governor of Katanga Province in the absence of General Charles Tombeur, who was engaged in operations in East Africa.

[2] He replaced Alexis Bertrand, interim governor after Justin Malfeyt had left office as deputy governor-general of Orientale Province in July 1916.

He started the first native courts, and the first councils of chiefdoms and sectors, giving the local people some say in managing their own affairs.

[3] On 14–21 September 1926 De Meulemeester attended the International Conference on the Christian Mission in Africa, in Zoute, Belgium.

[2] A report of his death summarized his achievements as building a remarkable network of roads in Stanleyville Province and introducing cotton cultivation in several regions of the Congo.