The division was created in September 1914 from men volunteering for Lord Kitchener's New Armies and was the last division to be raised under the K3 enlistment scheme.

Although the 26th Division began to assemble in September 1914, it was not fully deployed on the Western Front until the following year.

In November 1915, the division was redeployed to the Macedonian Front, where it remained until the end of the war.

It moved to France in September 1915 and then transferred to Salonika in November 1915.

Demobilization began in February 1919, and the division was formally disbanded on 10 May 1919.