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British Forces in the Anglo-Boer War

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.

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
Coldstream Guards
Scots 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

 

Table 1
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
Table 2
Recruitment to the British Regular Army 1899-1902
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)

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