Educated at Aldenham in Hertfordshire, he left for Australia at age 18 aboard the Australind and disembarked at Fremantle.
He set of for Bunbury and worked on a farm for less than a year then left for the Ashburton region.
[1] In 1897 de Pledge was appointed as manager at Yanrey Station by the estate of John Stuart.
At one stage Yanrey was the third largest property in the Ashburton District with a size of 876,892 acres (354,866 ha).
[2] Frederick Bedford and De Pledge acquired Globe Hill Station in 1909 for £35,000.