[3] He entered the Royal Navy on 2 January 1791,[1] serving on the Home and North America and West Indies Stations.

He was appointed in command of a unit of the Sea Fencibles in the Essex District in 1805, and on 7 August 1807 his wife died giving birth to a son.

He returned to sea to command HMS Amelia in December 1807, serving under Rear Admiral Stopford on the Home Station.

On 24 February 1809 he took part in the Battle of Les Sables-d'Olonne, which drove three large French frigates aground and destroyed them, gaining the special approval of the Admiralty.

The seventh report (1813) of the African Institution expressed the organization's gratitude for Irby's efforts in reducing the slave trade.

[6] Through his son Lenoard, he was a grandfather of Margaret Irby, who married Sir Morgan Crofton, 6th Baronet, James Fountayne Montagu, and John Wodehouse, 3rd Earl of Kimberley.