After a career in the British Army's Corps of Royal Engineers,[1][2] which included service on the North West Frontier[3] and being Secretary of the Colonial Defence Committee,[4] he became a colonial administrator serving as the 20th Governor of Mauritius from 13 September 1911[5] to 28 January 1916,[6] Trinidad and Tobago (1916[7]–1921) and Southern Rhodesia (1923–1928). He also served as Principal Assistant Secretary to the Committee of Imperial Defence From 1922–1923.[8]