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. 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. 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 Artillery 1st (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 Lancers Royal Regiment of Artillery Corps of Royal Engineers Grenadier Guards

Coldstream Guards Scots Guards INFANTRY OF THE LINE The Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment) The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment) The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) The King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) The Northumberland Fusiliers The Royal Warwickshire Regiment The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) The King's (Liverpool Regiment) The Norfolk Regiment The Lincolnshire Regiment The Devonshire Regiment The Suffolk Regiment Prince Albert's Light Infantry (Somersetshire Regiment) The Prince of Wales' Own (West Yorkshire Regiment) The East Yorkshire Regiment The Bedfordshire Regiment The Leicestershire Regiment The Royal Irish Regiment The Princess of Wales' Own (Yorkshire Regiment) The Lancashire Fusiliers The Royal Scots Fusiliers The Cheshire Regiment The Royal Welsh Fusiliers The South Wales Borderers The King's Own Scottish Borderers The Cameronians (Scots Rifles) The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers The Gloucestershire Regiment The Worcestershire Regiment The East Lancashire Regiment The East Surrey Regiment The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry The Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment) The Border Regiment The Royal Sussex Regiment The Hampshire Regiment The South Staffordshire Regiment The Dorsetshire Regiment The Prince of Wales' Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment) The Welsh Regiment The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) The Oxfordshire Light Infantry The Essex Regiment The Sherwood Foresters (Derbyshire Regiment) The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment The Northamptonshire Regiment Princess Charlotte of Wales' (Berkshire Regiment) The Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry The King's Light Infantry (Shropshire Regiment)

pre-1881 numbers 1st 2nd 3rd KORR 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th and 90th 27th and 108th 28th and 61st 29th and 36th 30th and 59th 31st and 70th 32nd and 46th 33rd and 76th 34th and 55th 35th and 107th 37th and 67th 38th and 80th 39th and 54th 40th and 82nd 41st and 69th 42nd and 73rd 43rd and 52nd 44th and 56th 45th and 95th 47th and 81st 48th and 58th 49th and 66th 50th and 97th 51st and 105th 53rd and 85th

The (Duke of Cambridge's Own) Middlesex Regiment The King's Royal Rifle Corps The (Duke of Edinburgh's) Wiltshire Regiment The Manchester Regiment The (Prince of Wales') North Staffordshire Regiment The York and Lancaster Regiment The Durham Light Infantry The Highland Light Infantry Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs) The Gordon Highlanders The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders The Royal Irish Rifles Princess Victoria's (Royal Irish Fusiliers) The Connaught Rangers Princess Louise's (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders) The Prince of Wales' Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) The Royal Munster Fusiliers The Royal Dublin Fusiliers The Prince Consort's Own (Rifle Brigade) 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

57th and 77th 60th 62nd and 99th 63rd and 96th 64th and 98th 65th and 84th 68th and 106th 71st and 74th 72nd and 78th 75th and 92nd 79th 83rd and 86th 87th and 89th 88th and 94th 91st and 93rd 100th and 109th 101st and 104th 102nd and 103rd [unnumbered since 1816]

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 Recruits previous military from the experience Militia 1899 23 259 16 396 1900 43 992 23 165 1901 28 516 15 662 1902 30 507 18 994 TOTA 126 274 74 217 L

Recruits from the Volunteers 3 045 20 962* 14 221** 8 300 46 528

Imperial Yeoman ry --10 242 17 252 7 239 34 733

TOTAL 42 700 98 361 75 651 65 040 281 752

* 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)