Meares was the son of George Rochfort Meares, of County Westmeath, Ireland, and emigrated to Australia, arriving in Sydney in 1847 and moving to Melbourne in 1852. He was Mayor of Melbourne in 1880 and 1881, and a commissioner and member of the executive committee for the Melbourne International Exhibition (1880). He married in 1864 Miss Sarah Brooker Dixon, and was created C.M.G. in 1882.