Born in the seaport of Stromness, Orkney, in 1809, Login went on to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh and was, within a few years, offered the post of assistant surgeon for the East India Company. Arriving in Calcutta in 1832, he initially had appointments with the Bengal establishment and the Nizam’s army. Later roles included, amongst others, a medical charge of the horse artillery in the Afghan campaign, residency surgeoncy at Lucknow, action in the Second Anglo-Sikh War and in 1849, the appointment as the Governor of Lahore.