He was born in New Ross, Nova Scotia, the son of Alfred S. Barkhouse and Anne Bertha Meister, and was educated at the Horton Academy.
Graves was the son of William Graves and his wife Sarah Elly daughter of Samuel Elly of New Ross.
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He was associated, first and foremost, with Mag Arnaide (Moyarney or Adamstown, near New Ross, Co. Wexford) and with Cell Abbáin (Killabban, County Laois).
During the rebellion in that year he was detached with three thousand men to occupy New Ross, and defeated the rebels when they attacked the place on 5 June 1798.