During the First Afghan War Kemball served with the Bombay Horse Artillery under Sir John Keane, saw action at the Battle of Ghazni on 23 July 1839, the capture of Kabul that followed, and the defeat of the Afghans at Khelat-i-Ghilzai during the subsequent British retreat to India. From 1842 to 1878 Kemball continued his military career in the Persian Gulf. He took up military duties in the 1856–1857 Persian War, for which he gained honours and was mentioned in the dispatches of Lieutenant GeneralJames Outram. In 1857 the general orders of Lord Canning, Governor-General of India commended Kemball's role in the offensive against Ahwaz, thanking him for his services "afforded on every occasion of difficulty and danger, and especially in the brilliant expedition against Ahwaz". Sir James Outram gave Kemball "unqualified approbation and hearty thanks". Kemball was awarded a Companion of the Order of the Bath for the Persian campaign and was awarded the KCSI in May 1866.
Diplomatic service
Kemball became Assistant Resident for the British Government at Bushehr in 1842, Resident in 1852, and in February 1851 was promoted to captain. He was the British political agent for Turkish Arabia in 1847, between 1849 and 1851, and in 1855, and during that time mediated and signed-off a Perpetual Treaty of Peace between chiefs of the Arabian Coast. In 1859 Kemball became acting Consul General at Baghdad. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1860, and to full colonel in 1863. In 1873 he was appointed official attendant to the Shah of Persia on his visit to England. Kemball was the British delegate at the 1875–76 British–Turkish–Persian–Russian boundary commission to determine the Turkish–Persian frontier. He later became the commission's president. In 1876 he served as British military commissioner accompanying Abdul-Kerim and his Turkish army in the 1876–77 Serbian–Ottoman War. During the 1876–1877 Constantinople Conference to provide political reform in Ottoman territories, Kemball acted as interpreter between Britain's Secretary of State for India and Ambassador Plenipotentiary to the conference, the Marquess of Salisbury and the Sultan, Abdul Hamid II.
Russo-Turkish War
In the 1877–78 Russo-Turkish War Kemball resumed his role as a British military commissioner with the Turkish Army, advising on, and inspecting, aspects of Turkish battle-readiness. During the 16 June 1877 battle at Zaidakan, Kemble and a Captain Norman were reconnoitering and observing hostilities on horseback. After the battle, they were confronted by a band of Russian Cossacks. Kemble decided to escape the situation, and he and Norman were chased by the Cossacks over twenty-five miles, with contemporary reports stating that a shell had exploded between them, wounding Norman in the arm, and that Kemble could have been shot in the head. They outran the Cossacks, and when at the Aras River swam across it to reach the Turkish camp. Of Kemble's role in the Russo-Turkish War, The Times correspondent with Abdul-Kerim's army wrote: At the end of the War Kemble was awarded the KCB, promoted to general, and accompanied Lord Lyons in negotiations at the Berlin Congress.
Civilian life
In 1868 Kemball married Anna Fanny Shaw, daughter of A. N. Shaw. Their only child was Wynford Rose Kemball, who married Bentley Tollemache, 3rd Baron Tollemache in 1902. Between 1879 and 1886 Kemball became the Commissioner of the Sutherland Estates of the 3rd Duke of Sutherland; the estate was the largest in Britain and included most of the county of Sutherland. During his tenure as commissioner he was involved with a dispute concerning gold digging. In 1869 gold had been found in the Strath of Kildonan resulting in an influx of outside prospectors and the establishment of a company for exploitation; the financial returns were not favourable and digging was abandoned. However, in 1886, following a downturn in the local economy, villagers and crofters petitioned the Duke though Commissioner Kemball for permission to continue searching for gold; permission was not given, and the estate threatened government action if it carried-on. Following further unauthorised digging the estate took steps to stop it. Before the problem was resolved the turmoil surrounding unconstrained and persistent gold digging by locals had caused Kemball to resign as estate commissioner, and Lord Stafford, the local Sutherland parliamentary representative, to resign.
