[2] Commissioned into the British Army, Hore-Ruthven saw active service in the Crimean War of 1853 to 1856 and eventually rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the Rifle Brigade.
[4] In October 1870, Ruthven was of the Pavilion House, Hans Place, Knightsbridge, and a bankruptcy action was brought against him by Henry Russell of 2, Percy Street, Bedford Square.
[7] In September 1881, Ruthven was "of Yeo Vale in the parish of Alwington, in the county of Devon", and sought a liquidation of his debts by arrangement.
[1] In 1882, George Boyle, 6th Earl of Glasgow, as Lord Clerk Register of Scotland, denied the existence of the lordship of Ruthven of Freeland before a Select Committee.
[9] They had five children:[1] Dying on 28 February 1921, Ruthven was buried as Walter James Hore Hore-Ruthven in the Dean Cemetery at Edinburgh.