[4] He was a brother-in-law of the German historian Leopold von Ranke who was married to his sister Helena Clarissa, and an uncle of the poet Alfred Perceval Graves.

He was educated in classics at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), where he became a Scholar in 1830, got a BA in 1832 (Gold Medal) and an MA in 1837.

He spent the last thirty years of his life back in Dublin, where he was sub-dean of the Chapel Royal, and taught at Alexandra College and also served as Vice Warden there.

He was an early proponent of women being allowed access to the highest echelons of education, and in 1892 he published the pamphlet "Suggestions on the Subject of University Degrees for Women"[8] in which he urged that his alma mater TCD should admit female students (which they finally did in 1904).

[9] R. P. Graves is best remembered for his wide-ranging three volume Life of Sir William Rowan Hamilton, published in 1882,[10] 1885,[11] 1889.