He at once saw active service under Colonel Archdale Wilson, was adjutant of sappers and miners at the actions at Ghazi-ud-din-Nagar on the Hindon River on 30 and 31 May, at Badli-ki-Serai under Major-General Henry Barnard on 8 June, and at the capture of the ridge in front of Delhi.

During the siege he thrice acted as orderly officer to Sir Robert Napier, by whom he was especially thanked for holding with Captain Medley and one hundred sappers for a whole night the advanced post of Shah Najif, which had been abandoned.

In April he was employed under Brigadier-General (afterwards Sir) John Douglas in the Ghazipur and Shahabad districts, was present in fourteen minor engagements, and was thanked in despatches for his services at the action of Ballia.

In 1865 the line was practically completed, and on Stewart's death in that year Champain was appointed to assist Sir Frederic Goldsmid, the chief director of the Indo-European Government Telegraph department.

[1] This visit gave rise to close relations with General Alexander von Lüders, director-general of Russian telegraphs, which proved of advantage to the service.

On his way out from England in September 1869, to superintend the laying of a second telegraph cable from Bushehr to Jask, Champain was nearly drowned in the wreck of the SS Carnatic off the island of Shadwan in the Red Sea.

His sound judgment and unfailing tact, together with a power of expressing his views clearly and concisely, enabled him to render important service at the periodical international telegraph conferences as the representative of the Indian government.

Special questions frequently arose the settlement of which took him to many of the European capitals, and in the ordinary course of his duties he made repeated visits to India, Turkey, Persia, and the Persian Gulf.

On his way home he went to Delhi to see his old friend Sir Frederick Roberts, from whom he learned that he had been made a knight commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, in recognition of his "services, during many years, in connection with the telegraph in India".

[1] In later life, Bateman-Champain suffered from hay fever, asthma, and eventually bronchitis, and in January 1887 he was persuaded to leave England for the Mediterranean for the sake of his health.