He enlisted in the British Army on 20 April 1859 as staff assistant and surgeon. He arrived in Auckland with a detachment of troops on the "Nugget" on 21 June 1860, three months after the start of the Waitara war in the Taranaki Region. He served as a medical officer in the First Taranaki War, the Invasion of Waikato and in subsequent campaigns. He left the Imperial Army, joining the Colonial Forces, and became their Surgeon-General.