He then went to London University studying field surveying and worked with Edward Ayearst Reeves at the Royal Geographical Society.
He trained in taxidermy and worked at the Natural History Museum and in 1899 he joined the Imperial Yeomanry for the Boer War.
In 1903 he took up work as a collector for museums and made trips across Namaqualand to Transvall, Zululand and Portuguese East Africa.
In 1908 he made a visit to South America, staying on until 1910 to collect across Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and the Matto Grosso.
In 1914 he again joined military service in the East African Expeditionary Force and after the war, he served in the administration of Tanganyika from 1919 to 1932.