He was a first cousin of Emily Georgina Carter-Campbell of Possil and Mrs George Fiott Day.

By 1848, he was Captain of the 7th Royal Irish Fusiliers and before his retirement from the army he was Adjutant to the Lanarkshire Militia.

Carter devoted much of his energy to breaking up the close administrative relationship between the existing police force and the individual magistrates operating in petty sessions divisions.

When Carter retired in 1867, they made sure that his successor, Captain Tyrwhitt-Drake, was a man firmly moulded by county connection and prestige.

Carter lived his adult life in England, but owned just under 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) at Annaghkeen, on Lough Corrib, County Galway, which his family had held since 1667.