He was the only son of Montague Bertie, 11th Earl of Lindsey and the former Felicia Elizabetha Welby, the second daughter of Rev.
[1] His father succeeded to the earldom in 1877 upon the death of his uncle, George Bertie, 10th Earl of Lindsey, who died unmarried.
[1] His paternal aunt, Lady Charlotte, was a prominent linguist who married twice, first to John Josiah Guest, 1st Baronet, and, after his death, to Charles Schreiber, MP for Cheltenham and Poole.
Between 1885 and 1888,[citation needed] he served as an aide-de-camp to Lord Carrington, then Governor of New South Wales.
Upon his death, the Earldom of Lindsey passed to his fifth cousin thrice removed, the 8th Earl of Abingdon, while the Irish titles of Baron and Viscount Cullen (which he never claimed) became extinct.