However, since he desired to become a soldier, a cadetship in the British East India Company's service was procured for him, through the good offices of Sir Walter Scott.
After a reported brilliant career at Addiscombe Military Academy (London Borough of Croydon, England), he sailed for India in 1834.
In 1837, he was appointed assistant to Colonel Claude Wade, the political agent in Ludhiana on the Sikh Empire and Anglo-Afghan ties.
[2] The book was noted for Cunningham's criticism of Sir Henry Hardinge's management of the Anglo-Sikh War and which then brought about his dismissal from political service since the views expressed in this work were anything but pleasing to his superiors.
The disgrace is reported to have hastened his death, and soon after his appointment to the Meerut Division of Public Works, he died at the city of Ambala, Punjab in 1851.