Organisation of British Armed Forces
Rank of Commanders
Division Commanders had the rank or local rank of Lieutenant-General. Brigade Commanders usually had the local rank of Major-General.
The Infantry Division
This usually consisted of Headquarters, an Engineer Company, and a Brigade Division of Artillery of 18 guns in three batteries, each having six 15 pounder guns and an ammunition column. Most of the troops were in the two (sometimes three) infantry brigades, each of four battalions. A battalion contained eight companies and its strength varied from 800 to 1100 men.

Keen’s Mustard advertisement from the War.
Mounted Infantry
When Lord Roberts took command, all battalions that had arrived from Britain were ordered to provide a mounted infantry company. Some complied by converting one of their eight companies, others made it a ninth company. All of these companies were formed into 8 MI Bns. In April of 1900, a reorganisation of MI took place and they were formed into two Brigades.
Cavalry
Cavalry consisted of Headquarters, a Field troop of Engineers, two Brigades each of three cavalry regiments, and a Battery RHA. There were two 1st and 2nd Cavalry Brigades, one pair in the Cavalry Division under French, and the other operating under Buller in Natal. Except for the 15th Hussars and the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards, every regiment or corps in the British Army served in South Africa; in the case of some infantry regiments, only one of their two battalions was sent there.
Naval Brigades
These were drawn from sailors and marines stationed in South African waters and mostly served the guns removed from the naval ships. The brigade with Methuen was over 400 strong and a small detachment with the large guns continued with Roberts to Pretoria. In Natal, the force was split and 283 went to Ladysmith, whilst 310 manned the naval guns during the battles that led to the relief of Ladysmith.
British Regiments
This is a relatively comprehensive list of the British Army at the time, however, a number of units listed here were not involved in the South African War. Pleasecontact me if you know which units these were. Please also contact me if you know of any regiments/units which are not listed here.
Units are listed in order of precedence as of July 1881. Pre-1881 infantry regiment numbers are shown in the right margin.
HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY | |||
1st Life Guards 2nd Life Guards Royal Horse Guards (The Blues)Royal Horse Artillery1st (King’s) Dragoon Guards 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen’s Bays) 3rd (The Prince of Wales’s) Dragoon Guards 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards 5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales’s) Dragoon Guards 6th Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers) 7th (The Princess Royal’s) Dragoon Guards 1st (Royal) Dragoons 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys) 3rd (The King’s Own) Hussars 4th (The Queen’s Own) Hussars 5th (Royal Irish) Lancers 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons 7th (The Queen’s Own) Hussars 8th (The King’s Royal Irish) Hussars 9th (The Queen’s Royal) Lancers 10th (The Prince of Wales’s Own Royal) Hussars 11th (Prince Albert’s Own) Hussars 12th (The Prince of Wales’s Royal) Lancers 13th Hussars 14th King’s Hussars 15th The King’s Hussars 16th (The Queen’s) Lancers 17th (The Duke of Cambridge’s Own) Lancers 18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary’s Own) 19th (Queen Alexandra’s Own Royal) Hussars 20th Hussars 21st LancersRoyal Regiment of Artillery Corps of Royal Engineers Grenadier Guards |
|||
INFANTRY OF THE LINE | pre-1881 numbers | ||
The Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment) | 1st | ||
The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment) | 2nd | ||
The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) | 3rd | ||
The King’s Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) | KORR | ||
The Northumberland Fusiliers | 5th | ||
The Royal Warwickshire Regiment | 6th | ||
The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) | 7th | ||
The King’s (Liverpool Regiment) | 8th | ||
The Norfolk Regiment | 9th | ||
The Lincolnshire Regiment | 10th | ||
The Devonshire Regiment | 11th | ||
The Suffolk Regiment | 12th | ||
Prince Albert’s Light Infantry (Somersetshire Regiment) | 13th | ||
The Prince of Wales’ Own (West Yorkshire Regiment) | 14th | ||
The East Yorkshire Regiment | 15th | ||
The Bedfordshire Regiment | 16th | ||
The Leicestershire Regiment | 17th | ||
The Royal Irish Regiment | 18th | ||
The Princess of Wales’ Own (Yorkshire Regiment) | 19th | ||
The Lancashire Fusiliers | 20th | ||
The Royal Scots Fusiliers | 21st | ||
The Cheshire Regiment | 22nd | ||
The Royal Welsh Fusiliers | 23rd | ||
The South Wales Borderers | 24th | ||
The King’s Own Scottish Borderers | 25th | ||
The Cameronians (Scots Rifles) | 26th and 90th | ||
The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers | 27th and 108th | ||
The Gloucestershire Regiment | 28th and 61st | ||
The Worcestershire Regiment | 29th and 36th | ||
The East Lancashire Regiment | 30th and 59th | ||
The East Surrey Regiment | 31st and 70th | ||
The Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry | 32nd and 46th | ||
The Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding Regiment) | 33rd and 76th | ||
The Border Regiment | 34th and 55th | ||
The Royal Sussex Regiment | 35th and 107th | ||
The Hampshire Regiment | 37th and 67th | ||
The South Staffordshire Regiment | 38th and 80th | ||
The Dorsetshire Regiment | 39th and 54th | ||
The Prince of Wales’ Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment) |
40th and 82nd | ||
The Welsh Regiment | 41st and 69th | ||
The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) | 42nd and 73rd | ||
The Oxfordshire Light Infantry | 43rd and 52nd | ||
The Essex Regiment | 44th and 56th | ||
The Sherwood Foresters (Derbyshire Regiment) | 45th and 95th | ||
The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment | 47th and 81st | ||
The Northamptonshire Regiment | 48th and 58th | ||
Princess Charlotte of Wales’ (Berkshire Regiment) | 49th and 66th | ||
The Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) | 50th and 97th | ||
The King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry | 51st and 105th | ||
The King’s Light Infantry (Shropshire Regiment) | 53rd and 85th | ||
The (Duke of Cambridge’s Own) Middlesex Regiment | 57th and 77th | ||
The King’s Royal Rifle Corps | 60th | ||
The (Duke of Edinburgh’s) Wiltshire Regiment | 62nd and 99th | ||
The Manchester Regiment | 63rd and 96th | ||
The (Prince of Wales’) North Staffordshire Regiment | 64th and 98th | ||
The York and Lancaster Regiment | 65th and 84th | ||
The Durham Light Infantry | 68th and 106th | ||
The Highland Light Infantry | 71st and 74th | ||
Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs) | 72nd and 78th | ||
The Gordon Highlanders | 75th and 92nd | ||
The Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders | 79th | ||
The Royal Irish Rifles | 83rd and 86th | ||
Princess Victoria’s (Royal Irish Fusiliers) | 87th and 89th | ||
The Connaught Rangers | 88th and 94th | ||
Princess Louise’s (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders) | 91st and 93rd | ||
The Prince of Wales’ Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) |
100th and 109th | ||
The Royal Munster Fusiliers | 101st and 104th | ||
The Royal Dublin Fusiliers | 102nd and 103rd | ||
The Prince Consort’s Own (Rifle Brigade) | [unnumbered since 1816] | ||
West India Regiment | |||
SERVICES | |||
Commissariat and Transport Corps Army Hospital Corps Army Ordnance Corps Corps of Military Mounted Police Corps of Army Schoolmasters Army Chaplain’s Department Army Pay Department Army Veterinary Department Army Nursing Service |
Adult males who would be aged 40 years and under by 1898,
and who joined one of the military forces of the Crown, 1881-1898.
Regular Army | 594 215 |
Militia | 432 801 |
Volunteers | 730 154 |
Yeomanry (1898 only) |
10 207 |
TOTAL | 1 767 377 |
Recruitment to the British Regular Army 1899-1902
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Recruits with no previous military experience
|
Recruits from the Militia
|
Recruits from the Volunteers
|
Imperial Yeomanry
|
TOTAL
|
1899 |
23 259
|
16 396
|
3 045
|
—
|
42 700
|
1900 |
43 992
|
23 165
|
20 962*
|
10 242
|
98 361
|
1901 |
28 516
|
15 662
|
14 221**
|
17 252
|
75 651
|
1902 |
30 507
|
18 994
|
8 300
|
7 239
|
65 040
|
TOTAL |
126 274
|
74 217
|
46 528
|
34 733
|
281 752
|
* of which 14, 559 on one-year engagements, including 1 664 CIV ** of which 6, 776 on one-year engagements Source: General Annual Return of the British Army, 1902, (Cd. 1496, 1903), and 1903 (Cd. 1904, 1904)SOURCES Belfield. The Boer War (1993). General Annual Return of the British Army, 1902, (Cd. 1496, 1903), and 1903 (Cd. 1904, 1904) |