 After serving as deputy inspector-general in the Ionian Islands and Madras, he became surgeon-general in 1863, and was appointed principal medical officer of European troops in India, an appointment which he held for the customary five years.For the next three years he was in medical charge of the Royal Victoria Hospital, Netley; and in 1871 was appointed principal medical officer in India for the second time.He was appointed a Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath in 1869.