Birthplace:
- Wantage, Berkshire

Nationality:
- English

Height:
- 5 feet 10 inches

Family Background:
- Sargent's father was Charles Sargent, but nothing more is known

At Sandhurst:
- No

Career before Halifax:
- Ensign, 37th Foot, 10 November 1865 (purchase)
- to 78th Highlanders by transfer, 10 November 1865
- Lieutenant, 20 July 1867 (purchase)

Postings while in NS Command:
- Halifax, 9 May 1869 to 23 September 1870
- Saint John, New Brunswick, 24 September 1870 to 4 August 1871
- Halifax, 5 August 1871 to 25 November 1871

Career after Halifax:
- Captain, 28 March 1877

Died:
- 21 January 1881, Kandahar, Afghanistan

A letter from Charles Sargent to the Horse Guards in support of his son's application for a first commission in 1865 stated that he "was desirous of obtaining a commission in a Highland Regiment." This application was not immediately successful, for Sargent was first posted to the 37th North Hampshire Regiment; but on the same day a transfer was arranged to the 78th.

In 1880 Sargent was sent with the 78th into Afghanistan to fight in a war that the British were then waging against the Afghanis. The last major battle was fought and won by the British commander, Sir Frederick Roberts, before the 2nd Seaforths arrived, however, and it spent the next six months garrisoning the Afghan city of Kandahar. The climate was frigid, and the accommodation poor, with the result that out of a total regimental strength of 757, 230 became casualties. One of these was Captain Sargent, who died of pneumonia there on 21 January 1881.