Rubuta ci gaba ga wannan sakin layi - Daly shi ne dan Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Dermot Daly, wani jami'in a cikin 4th Light Dragons, da matarsa, Mary McIntosh. Ya shiga Bombay Infantry a matsayin jami'in cadet a 1840. Tare da wasu jami'an matasa masu shekaru iri daya, kamar Herbert Edwardes da Patrick Alexander Vans Agnew, an tura Daly don "ba da shawara" ga Sikhs a matsayin wani ɓangare na "Matasa" na Henry Lawrence. Ya yi aiki a Yaƙin Anglo-Sikh na biyu
kuma ya halarci Siege na Multan. A ranar 18 ga Mayu 1849, ya tayar da Sojojin Sama na 1 na Punjab, wanda daga baya ya zama Sojojin Sama na 21 na Yarima Albert Victor (Frontier Force) (Daly's Horse). Daly ya ci gaba da matsayi na kyaftin a shekara ta 1854 kuma ya jagoranci rundunarsa a lokacin Indiyawan Indiya. Rundunar ta yi aiki a Arewacin Indiya kuma ta shiga cikin Siege na Delhi da kuma Taimakon Lucknow. Ya ci gaba da umurnin Brigade na Hodson's Horse a lokacin yakin. An ba da shawarar Daly sau biyu don Victoria Cross sakamakon halinsa.