He served with the King's Royal Hussars during the Second World War, seeing action during the Battle of Belgium. He was killed in a rearguard action on 18 May 1940, during the British Expeditionary Force's retreat to Dunkirk, when his tank was destroyed by a German anti-tank gun in the Belgian town of Assche. He was the most senior member of his regiment to be killed on that day. He was posthumously mentioned in dispatches for his actions throughout the retreat.