Devlin, born a second generation settler, started his working life as a wheelwright and through his enterprise became a member of the new gentry. He planted most of his land at Kissing Point as orchard, the district being the primary supplier of fruit and vegetables in Sydney. Devlin was later to become one of the first pastoralists in the Riverina District, was a magistrate at Ryde between 1864 and 1872 and instrumental in the establishment of the Municipality of Ryde in 1871 the first Council to which he was elected as an alderman.
