[3][4][5] The outbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War in 1899 found the British Army overstretched, and the 1st Battalion was one of many "home service" units dispatched to fight in the conflict.

Apart from a brief spell in Shanghai in 1927, it remained in the United Kingdom until 1936, when it moved to Palestine to suppress the Arab revolt.

It returned to England in the following year, and was based at Catterick Garrison when the Second World War broke out.

In the next few years, the 2nd Battalion was on garrison duty at various locations: Malta, The Sudan, Tientsin in China and Rawalpindi in India.

[3] In April 1939, when it seemed clear war was likely to break out with Germany, the TA was doubled in size, with each existing unit forming a duplicate.

After returning to the United Kingdom, the battalion, now under Lieutenant Colonel Roger Bower, was transferred to the mountain warfare trained 31st Independent Infantry Brigade.

In this role, the battalion went to North Africa in May 1943 and in July it took part in Operation Ladbroke, part of the Allied invasion of Sicily, in which the battalion suffered heavy casualties, with some gliders being cast off too early due to inexperienced pilots and, as a result, many men were drowned.

However, the battalion left the brigade in November 1939, and was assigned to the newly raised 25th Infantry Brigade and served from 1939–40 in France on lines of communication duties before becoming part of the ill-fated "2nd BEF" that tried to maintain a presence in France after Dunkirk, finally leaving from the Cherbourg peninsular.

After returning to the United Kingdom, it spent time in South Wales on Guard duties before being posted to North Africa in 1941.

[13] The 5th Battalion was also a 1st-Line Territorial Army unit that was serving with the 42nd East Lancashire Infantry Division and was sent to join the BEF in France in 1940.

The men continued to wear their Border Regiment cap badge on the black beret of the RAC, as did all infantry units converted in the same way.

[7][11] In July 1957, the Defence White Paper outlined a substantial reduction in the size of the British Army, with a number of regiments being amalgamated.

[20] The Border Regiment and its successors have a gallery at Cumbria's Museum of Military Life in Alma Block, Carlisle Castle.