He was the younger brother of Sir Ronald Ross, who received the 1902 Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovering the method by which malaria was transmitted.

[2] His eldest brother, Ronald, would later become a medical researcher, and was eventually awarded the 1902 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work on the transmission of malaria.

[7] He remained at Sandhurst until January 1908, when he was posted to the Staff College as a deputy assistant adjutant general (DAAG) in succession to John Du Cane;[2][8] he was well regarded as a lecturer by his students.

[11] During the early stages of the First World War, Ross was promoted to the temporary rank of brigadier general in July 1915[12] and commanded the 20th (Light) Division's 61st Infantry Brigade, which he led on the Western Front.

He also wrote fiction, publishing at five mystery novels: The Fly-By-Nights; The Haunted Seventh; Every Man's Hand; When the Devil Was Sick; and The Castle Fenham Case.