He was educated at Westminster School, and at the age of 18 joined the 19th Lancers and proceeded to India where he served in Awadh during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
During this period he corresponded on ornithology with Hume and his observations and research in this region were published in two papers in the Ibis.
After holding many posts as British Resident at various princely states and serving for four years on the staff of the Viceroy of India, Lord Northbrook, Biddulph retired from the service in 1896.
[1] Biddulph wrote several works about India and about the history of the British presence there including biographies of Stringer Lawrence and Joseph François Dupleix.
[4] These books and his Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh are listed as references for several articles in the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition.