In 1915, he joined the British Indian Army as an officer in the 14th King George's Own Ferozepore Sikhs. He was awarded the Military Cross for distinguished and meritorious services at the Battle of Sharqat, during the campaign in Mesopotamia against the Turks. Sir Kenneth later wrote a short account of the Battle of Sharqat. After the war he left the Indian Army with the rank of captain, though he was later made an honorary colonel. Having left the army, he joined the Foreign & Political Department of the Government of India, serving as the British District Commissioner in Charsadda, a district adjoining the Khyber Pass.