He was the son of Major Aubrey Stephen Vere O’Brien of Adare, Limerick, Ireland and changed his surname to de Vere by Royal Licence after inheriting Curragh Chase on the death of his father in 1898.
[1] He joined the Colonial Civil Service in Limerick and served as a Magistrate before going to South Africa with the Paget's Horse Regiment to fight in the Boer War.
On his return he was posted to the Gold Coast as a District Commissioner (1903–1905) and then to the Seychelles as Legal Adviser and Crown Prosecutor he also was appointed Acting Chief Justice whilst maintaining residence in Ireland.
From 1922 to 1926, he was the British Judge in the Anglo-French Condominium of New Hebrides, before serving in Cyprus for two years as President of the District Court.
In 1928 he was transferred to the Seychelles as Chief Justice and acting Governor,[3] creating a diplomatic incident when the outgoing Chief Justice and acting Governor, Justin Louis Devaux, refused to hand over power until his own departure a month later.