Sir Charles Richard Mackey O'Brien (1859-1935) was educated at Felsted and Sandhurst. In 1878 he joined the 30th Cambridgeshire Regt. as 2nd Lieut., rising to the rank of brevet Lieut.-Colonel in 1902, serving in the South African War, 1899-1902 with the East Lancashire Regiment and as President of the Military Tribunal, Johannesburg. He was Deputy Commissioner of the Transvaal Town Police, 1901-1908, Acting Commissioner of Police, 1903-1907 and during the strike on the Witwatersrand. He served as Colonial Secretary, Gambia, 1910-1912 and Acting Governor, 1910-1912. He was Governor, Seychelles, 1912-1918, Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Barbados, 1918-1925, and Special Government Commissioner, Sierra Leone, 1926. From 1929-1930 he was a member of the Colonial Films Committee. Awarded the KCMG in 1920, he was married twice, to Christina Mary Harrison, 1884-1899, with whom he had two sons and one daughter, and to Selina Beatrice Elphinstone from 1902, with whom he had two daughters.