Headquartered at Lancaster under the officer commanding 4th Regimental District, it comprised the 1at and 2nd Volunteer Battalions of the South Lancashire Regiment and the 3rd, 6th and 8th (Scottish) Volunteer Battalions of the King's (Liverpool Regiment), together with a transport company of the Army Service Corps and a bearer company of the Medical Staff Corps.

[1] The brigade continued when the Volunteers were subsumed into the Territorial Force in 1908 (when the volunteer battalions were renumbered), with the following composition:[1][2][3] The brigade formed part of the TF's West Lancashire Division.

The brigade served with the division on the Western Front during the Second World War.

During the interwar years the brigade had the following composition:[4] By 1939 war with Nazi Germany was becoming increasingly likely and, as a consequence, the Territorial Army was doubled in size with each formation forming a duplicate.

It served in Northern Ireland from 24 July 1944 until it returned to the UK and rejoined 55th (West Lancashire) Division in June 1945, after the end of the war in Europe.