He was educated at Sedbergh School and then admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge in June 1890, but left after a short time owing to ill health.
[2] From 1898 he was acting consul at the state of Pará, Brazil, and from 1899 to 1901 the vice-consul at Manaus in the same country.
After being transferred to Northern Nigeria in 1901, he was appointed CMG for his diplomatic service in 1909[3] and rose to become Lieutenant-Governor of that region in 1914.
[5] He died in Granada, Spain, of kidney failure on 9 January 1929.
[1] In 1915, Olive and Charles published a book on their life in Nigeria titled Notes on the Tribes, Provinces, Emirates and States of the Northern Provinces of Nigeria.