It fought in the Battle of Khadki on 5 November 1817 in the Third Anglo-Maratha War and became the regiment's 1st Battalion in 1820.

The renaming was in honour of Lieutenant-General Sir James Outram who had served with the regiment as its first adjutant.

In the early 1900s the regiment saw service against Diiriye Guure[1] and his followers in British Somaliland, where it was transferred in late 1902,[2] while a company was sent to Aden in 1903.

The regiment raised further battalions during the course of the First World War, seeing extensive service in the Middle East, with some soldiers attached to other units.

Outram's Rifles were involved in, among others, the Third Battle of Gaza, begun on 31 October 1917, and the Megiddo Offensive in September 1918.