The brigade was initially formed of four war-raised Service Battalions from the Royal Fusiliers, primarily recruited from London.
[1] The 17th was formed by the British Empire Committee, a recruiting organisation chaired by General Sir Bindon Blood, Herbert Nield, the Conservative MP for Ealing, and Major-General Lionel Herbert.
The committee was authorised to raise a battalion on 30 August; they had completed recruitment and moved into camp by 12 September, under the command of Colonel George Robert Harland Bowden MP.
[3] The 23rd and 24th "Sportsmen's Battalions" were raised by Mrs Cunliffe-Owen, daughter of Sir Philip Cunliffe-Owen, who offered to raise "a complete battalion of upper and middle class men, physically fit, able to shoot and ride, up to the age of forty-five"; in the event, she provided a second as well.
The men of the 23rd and 24th were a varied group of British and Colonial adventurers, including engineers, fur trappers, big-game hunters, and athletes.