Appointed to the Nova Scotia Council at Annapolis Royal in 1736 and granted the position of Justice of the Peace by Governor Peregrine Hopson in 1752.
During Father Le Loutre's War, Captain Handfield was first in command of Fort Vieux Logis (1749); successfully defending the fort during the Siege of Grand Pre, while losing his son and future son-in-law Captain John Hamilton who were taken prisoner by the Mi'kmaq and Acadian militias.
He took command at Fort Lawrence where he married John Hamilton (British army officer) to his daughter (1752).
In a letter to John Winslow he states, "I heartily join with You in wishing that we were both of us got over this most disagreeable and troublesome part of the Service."
[1] He moves to Boston upon his retirement and by 1776 is found in Ireland where he dies at Waterford on April 20, 1787.