Career
Findlay was present at the battles of Maida and Meksem during the Napoleonic Wars. Foreign his conduct at Meksem, he received his first commission in the 2nd West India Regiment in 1814, serving with them until 1824 when he was transferred to the Royal African Corps, in which he became a Major in 1826. In 1829, Findlay was appointed Lieutenant Governor of The Gambia, then Lieutenant Governor of Sierra Leone a year later, when he was also promoted to Colonel.