 He commanded the Scots Fusilier Guards at the Battle of Balaclava in October 1854, at the Battle of Inkerman in November 1854 and at the Siege of Sebastopol in Winter 1854 during the Crimean War.He became Commander-in-Chief, Scotland in 1862.He was also colonel of the 50th Regiment of Foot from 1871 to 1881, when they became part of the new Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), after which he was briefly Colonel of the first battalion of the latter before his death later that year.