Under the Cardwell and Childers Reforms it became part of the North Staffordshire Regiment and saw active service during the Second Boer War.

The universal obligation to military service in the Shire levy was long established in England and its legal basis was updated by two acts of 1557 (4 & 5 Ph.

Although officers continued to be commissioned into the militia and ballots were still held, the regiments were rarely assembled for training and the permanent staffs of sergeants and drummers were progressively reduced.

[38] Although often referred to as brigades, the sub-districts were purely administrative organisations, but in a continuation of the Cardwell Reforms a mobilisation scheme began to appear in the Army List from December 1875.

[18][41][42] After the disasters of Black Week at the start of the Second Boer War in December 1899, most of the regular army was sent to South Africa, and many militia units were embodied to replace them for home defence and some overseas garrisons.

It embarked with a strength of 24 officers and 546 other ranks (ORs) under the command of Lt-Col Richard Mirehouse,[c] and disembarked at Cape Town on 29 March.

On 31 March two companies sailed to St Helena guarding General Piet Cronjé and other Boer prisoners captured at the Battle of Paardeberg who were interned on the island.

On 25 June 1901 a determined attack was made on Fraserburg by the combined Commandos of Malan, Smit and Reitz totalling about 400 men.

Firing began at 05.30, when all the troops were standing-to The first attack was made on a small post held by a Corporal and three men, eventually working round behind a sangar on a high ridge of kopjes dominating the town, which was held by Sergeant White and 17 men, the Boers taking advantage of an unfinished blockhouse nearby.

There were moves to reform the Auxiliary Forces (Militia, Yeomanry and Volunteers) to take their place in the six army corps proposed by the Secretary of State for War, St John Brodrick.

Life in the Salient was tough, improving defences was hard work in frozen mud, and the troops had to be regularly rotated, each relief entailing a long march along duckboard tracks.

[55] Because of the severe manpower shortage being suffered by the BEF, infantry brigades were reduced to three battalions, and in the resulting reorganisation 4th North Staffs was transferred on 3 February 1918 within 35th Division to 105th Bde, with which it remained for the rest of the war.

The first North Staffs' raid advanced under machine gun fire about 550 yards (500 m) along a road, unable to deploy off it in the 'wretched' conditions.

The other raid assembled at Colombo House and advanced about 500 yards (460 m) along the forest road, over a succession of felled trees and Concertina wire.

That evening it sent two companies forward to reinforce 15th Sherwood Foresters, who had already made a counter-attack at Maurepas and then resisted several heavy German attacks.

[51][52][58][59][60] The Germans renewed their attack on 25 March (the First Battle of Bapaume) with a heavy barrage all along the line, and managed to push into Maricourt Wood, threatening 105th Bde's left flank.

After this counter-attack, 4th North Staffs held an old trench line east of Maricourt village, but its left flank was still very exposed.

The orders reached 105th Bde at 22.00 and despite the confusion of straggling units that formed part of its line, it completed the move by 01.00 on 26 March.

[61][62] The division was then ordered to prepare for retirement across the River Ancre, but to delay as long as possible to allow the artillery and stores to cross first.

But Third Army HQ tried to countermand the retirement, and soon after 19.00 the tired 105th Bde began recrossing the Ancre to regain the high ground beyond Morlancourt.

The 4th North Staffs (commanded by Capt Bache after Lt-Col Appleyard had been evacuated with gas poisoning) advanced on the left of the brigade via Dernancourt, supported by two companies of 15th Cheshire Regiment.

The Brigadier had complained that the attack by tired men, short of ammunition, had little chance of success; he was allowed to call it off, but the two officers sent forward to recall 4th North Staffs were never seen again.

[63][64] The division then prepared to defend the line of the Ancre, with the 4th North Staffs along the railway embankment behind Dernancourt, outposts along the riverbank and standing posts on the far side.

[65][66] On the night of 6/7 April, 35th Division marched south through the rain to occupy the front line trenches in Aveluy Wood, which it held for the next two months.

[51][67] Further south the Allied Hundred Days Offensive had been launched on 8 August, and by the end of the month there were signs that the Germans were pulling back.

Instead, on 4 September the brigade relieved some US troops who had been holding the line around Vlamertinge, the 4th North Staffs suffering numerous casualties from gas shelling while this was carried out.

A Creeping barrage called down from the artillery failed to disturb the dug-in machine gunners, so 4th North Staffs and 15th Sherwood Foresters were ordered to envelop the village from both sides.

While the rest of the division tackled the villages and converged on Zwevegem, 4th North Staffs reached the Bossuit–Kortrijk Canal and captured some howitzers.

Next morning came word that the Armistice with Germany would come into force at 11.00, and the division was ordered to make every effort to reach the River Dendre by then.

It spent the winter there until the end of January 1919, when trouble broke out among the troops awaiting demobilisation at camps round Calais.