 He left Eton early in 1754 and was commissioned as an ensign in the 1st Regiment of Foot on 17 October 1754, which cost £900, subsequently he fought in the Seven Years' War, becoming a lieutenant on 27 October 1760.He left the army a captain and was sent by his father to the Grisons where he married a second cousin in 1763, she died, "morte avec une fille en couches" a year later.In 1765 he married a first cousin, she died 18 months later.