He was present as a captain at the Siege of Lucknow during the Indian Mutiny of 1857 and as a major in the subsequent Oudh campaign of 1858. In the China Campaign of 1860 he served as an assistant adjutant-general on the staff of Major-General Sir Robert Napier and as the latter's military secretary in India and Abbysinia. He was Aide-de-Camp to Queen Victoria from 1868 to 1878 when, now promoted Major-general, he was appointed assistant military secretary to Prince George, Duke of Cambridge.