Joining the army in 1804, he served as aide-de-camp to Arthur Wellesley (Duke of Wellington) during the Peninsular War, and lost an arm at the Battle of Waterloo. Appointed to lead the British expeditionary force in the Crimean War, he won a victory at Inkerman (5 November 1854) with French assistance, but was criticized for his general conduct of the campaign, and the disastrous cavalry charge at the Battle of Balaklava.