[1] Gamble was first commissioned (brevet) as an ensign in the 4th Foot Regiment in 1844[2] and then as a lieutenant was posted at ‘Maker Barracks’ Vaulters Home Maker, St Germans in Cornwall where he passed his exam in native languages (on 26 January 1847) and worked to become captain and to serve in Turkey between 1854 and 1855,[2] and was with the 4th Regiment in the Crimean Campaign in 1855, after which he was decorated (receiving a medal with clasp, and the Turkish medal in 1856) and promoted to the rank of major.

They married on 23 June 1859 at Falkirk, Stirlingshire in Scotland[4] and the couple subsequently had three children, two boys Richard (in 1860) and Reginald (1862) and later a daughter (1864 in Auckland New Zealand).

[1] From 1861 as Lieutenant-Colonel he took up the post of Deputy Quartermaster-General (DQMG) in New Zealand on the staff of Lieutenant General Duncan Cameron responsible, in conjunction with the commissariat department, for arranging supplies for the British forces.

He further served in the campaigns at Tauranga, Gate Pa, Wanganui and South Taranaki all for which on the 6 February 1866 he was made colonel and awarded another medal.

[2][7] Returning to England, he was appointed director-general of military education in 1887, but, aged 64, Gamble died at South Kensington, London, on 21 November 1887.