He entered the British Army in 1854. and, in the next year, he served with the 72nd Highlanders in the Crimean War, and was present at the siege and fall of Sebastopol for which he received the Crimea Medal with clasp, and the Turkish Crimea Medal. In the New Zealand Wars he served with the 1st Battalion, 12th (East Suffolk) Regiment of Foot in the Taranaki district, and in the Waikato campaign in 1863 and 1864.