After the 1st South African Infantry Brigade Group joined in early 1916, the division was known colloquially as the Jock and Springboks.

A 9th Division had been formed for service during the Second Boer War, and was commanded by Henry Edward Colvile.

[1] In 1902, a 9th Division was as formed and was commanded by Edward Pemberton Leach,[2] but it was broken-up at some point prior to the start of the war.

In the Battle of Loos, notable for being the first battle in which British forces used poison gas, the 9th (Scottish) Division assaulted the Hohenzollern Redoubt, the 5th Camerons suffered horrific casualties, and Corporal James Dalgleish Pollock gained a Victoria Cross for his actions.

In the Somme offensive, the 9th (Scottish) Division liberated the village of Longueval; the village now has a statue of a Scottish piper at its crossroads that commemorates this fact (see Caterpillar Valley Cemetery) and also other pipers who served in the First World War.