His mother Mary 'Byrne, was daughter of Count John O'Byrne of Corville and granddaughter of Baron von Hubner, Austrian ambassador in Paris 1849–58; she was born in Toulouse, France with Wild Geese ancestry.

After travelling extensively in the Far East and America, he saw active service in the first world war from 1915, and was wounded in action.

He was the new Irish Free State government of Ireland's agent in Switzerland then in Belgium, then envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to France.

In 1962 he was again invited by the government of the Republic of Ireland to take up the post of chargé d'affaires at Lisbon, and so remained until his death He was involved the wine export trade, and was the French translator of Omar Khayyám.

[2][3] In this private role he used his contacts to secure safety of Irish trapped in France in the years of occupation.