He was educated chiefly by Jesuits at Tullabeg College and entered the army as an ensign of the 69th Foot at Fermoy Barracks in 1858, becoming captain in 1872 and major in 1874. He took part with distinction in the Red River expedition (1870-71) and the Ashanti operations (1873-74), receiving the Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1874. In 1877 he married Elizabeth Thompson, an accomplished painter of battle scenes, and notably of horses, with whom he had six children. He went on to serve in the Zulu War and the Sudan and in 1886 was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, continuing to hold high-ranking positions until leaving the King's service in 1905. His last years were spent at Bansha Castle in Ireland where he became a frequent lecturer both in Dublin and the provinces on historical, social and economic questions. The Great Lone Land: A Narrative of Travel and Adventure in the North-West of America, first published in 1872, established his reputation as a fine descriptive writer, and his other works include a biography of Sir George Colley and his own autobiography which was unfinished at the time of his death but completed by his youngest daughter, Eileen, Viscountess Gormanston, and published posthumously in 1911.