Ready was the son of Colonel John Tobin Ready He was promoted to
lieutenant on 28 July 1894, and was part of the Kitchener Expedition to defeat the
Mahdi in Sudan in 1898–99, taking part in the battles of
Atbara (April 1898) and
Omdurman (September 1898). He attended the
Staff College, Camberley, from 1898 to 1899. With the 2nd Battalion of his regiment, Ready served in South Africa during the
Second Boer War of 1899–1900, taking part in operations in the
Orange Free State from February to July 1900 and
Transvaal from July to November 1900. He returned to South Africa in 1902, as the war drew to a close, and was promoted to
captain on 15 January 1902. For his service in the war he was
mentioned in despatches, was awarded the
Distinguished Service Order and received the
Queen's South Africa Medal with three clasps. Ready served in the
First World War, becoming in August 1914 a deputy assistant adjutant and quartermaster general and in June 1915 an assistant adjutant and quartermaster general and for which he was promoted to the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel while holding his appointment, He was later an adjutant general in
Mesopotamia. and in October was made a temporary major general while employed as a deputy adjutant general. His major general's rank became substantive in June 1919. He was appointed
General Officer Commanding Northern Ireland District in 1926 before becoming General Officer Commanding
1st Division at
Aldershot in 1929 and then, after being promoted to lieutenant general in August 1930, became
Quartermaster-General to the Forces in 1931. He was made a general in 1934, ==Personal life==