In 1860, Ainslie was commissioned as a Captain of the North Lonsdale (or 37th) Lancashire Rifle Volunteers [REF].
In December 1868, the Office of the Commissioners of Patents for Inventions gave Ainslie provisional protection "To William George Ainslie, of 3, East India-avenue, Leadenhall-street, in the city of London, for the invention of "improvements in means for drying peat, peat compounds, and other materials"."[REF] .