Having passed through Sandhurst, Charles Ellice was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards on 10 May 1839. He served in Canada in 1840–2, and became lieutenant and captain on 8 August 1845. He exchanged to the 82nd foot on 20 March 1846, and to the 24th foot, of which his father was colonel, on 3 April. He went with that regiment to India in May, but was aide-de-camp to his father (commanding the troops in Malta) from 17 March 1848 to 3 March 1849, and so missed the second Sikh war. He was promoted major on 21 December 1849, and lieutenant-colonel on 8 August 1851.