[4] In December 1912, after passing his examination, he was transferred to be a regular second lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment.

[5] In September 1914, after the outbreak of World War I, he was promoted to temporary lieutenant[6] and later that year seconded to the Army Signal Service.

[8] He was twice mentioned in dispatches during the war, and he was awarded the Military Cross (MC) in the King's 1916 Birthday Honours.

[13] In 1922 he left the Signals to attend the Staff College, Camberley, where he encountered many future general officers, including Charles Fullbrook-Leggatt, John Evetts, Thomas Hutton, Keith Simmons and Robert Money.

In July 1940, under the terms of a war contingency plan, the 3rd Nigerian Brigade was sent to East Africa.