The brigade, assigned to the 44th (Home Counties) Division, saw extensive service in the Second World War, in France and was later evacuated at Dunkirk in May 1940.

The Volunteer Force of part-time soldiers was created following an invasion scare in 1859, and its constituent units were progressively aligned with the Regular British Army during the later 19th Century.

The Stanhope Memorandum of December 1888 introduced a Mobilisation Scheme for Volunteer units, which would assemble in their own brigades at key points in case of war.

Brigade Headquarters was at 71 New Street in Kennington Park (later at 97 Barkston Gardens) and the commander was Colonel Alexander Hamilton (later 10th Lord Belhaven and Stenton), a retired officer in the Royal Engineers.

[3][4][5][6] On the outbreak of war the Surrey Brigade was composed as follows:[7][8][9] Commander: Brigadier-General J. Marriott (remained in the United Kingdom) On the outbreak of the First World War, most of the men of the division accepted liability for overseas service to go to British India to relieve Regular Army troops for the fighting fronts.

[7] On arrival, the division's units were distributed to various peacetime stations across India, Aden and Burma to continue their training for war.

For a time the two East Surrey battalions were attached to the Allahabad Brigade in 8th (Lucknow) Division, where they were joined by the 4th Queens.

The brigade was mobilised in late August 1939, as was most of the rest of the Territorial Army, due to the worsening situation in Europe.

Initially, it comprised the three 1st Line Territorial Army battalions of the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey).

This was one of the BEF's official policies and was intended to strengthen the inexperienced Territorial divisions, giving them much-needed experience.

[24] The brigade (now with 1/7th Queen's reunited), along with the rest of the 44th Division, now under Major-General Ivor Hughes (who had commanded the 1/6th Queen's at Dunkirk), was sent to North Africa in May 1942 where, shortly after arrival in August, they became part of the British Eighth Army, under Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery, and fought at the Battle of Alam el Halfa in late August.

The brigade, now under command of Brigadier Lashmer Whistler (nicknamed "Private Bolo" by men of the brigade), fought throughout the rest of the Tunisian Campaign until it ended in mid-May 1943, when the Germans and Italians fighting in North Africa finally surrendered, with the Allies capturing over 230,000 POWs.

[29] The brigade later helped breach the Volturno Line and saw little major action thereafter and, with the rest of the 7th Armoured Division, returned to the United Kingdom in early January 1944 and Brigadier Whistler was soon transferred to take command of the inexperienced 160th Infantry Brigade, part of the 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division, and was replaced by Brigadier Maurice Ekins.

With the rest of the 7th Armoured Division, the brigade was brought back up to strength again and began training for operations to open the Second Front.