An East India Company military cadet of the 1800 season, he arrived in India in August 1801 and was commissioned ensign in the 12th Bengal Native Infantry in November 1801, being promoted to Lieutenant in September 1803.
He served under General Lake with the 12th N.I. in the Second Mahratta War, being present at the Battle of Laswarree, on 1 November 1803, "as fierce a fight as was ever fought by men." In 1851, he received the Army of India Medal with clasp for Laswarree.
Brownrigg transferred to the 8th N.I., and was Adjutant and Quartermaster of that unit between 1805 and 1810. He served in the capture of Java in August 1811 but neither claimed nor received the medal for that campaign. He was also Secretary to the Military Board from February 1813 until his resignation from the army in April 1820, having been promoted Captain in February 1815.
On 11 December 1812, he married Elizabeth Rebecca Cassamaijor, a daughter of James Henry Cassamaijor, Esq.[1] Together, they were the parents of:[7]
John Studholme Brownrigg (1814–1889), a General who fought in the Crimean War; he married Katharine Williams-Wynn, daughter of Sir Henry Williams-Wynn, in 1840.[7] After her death, he married Beatrice Laura Desanges, daughter of Louis William Desanges.[8]