The son of George John, 5th Baron Vernon, and his first wife, Isabella Caroline, Augustus Henry Vernon succeeded his father as Baron in 1866. He served as an Officer in the Scots Fusiliers Guards. On 7 June 1851, he married Lady Harriet Anson [d. 1898], daughter of the 1st Earl of Lichfield. They had a large family of two sons and five daughters (two other sons and a daughter died in infancy). The eldest son, George William Henry, succeeded his father as 7th Baron Vernon.