The first, so-called "imperial", unit, was formed by the Dutch administration of the Cape Colony in 1793, to enlarge its garrison because of the threat posed by the war in Europe.

The function of this locally recruited multiracial force was to maintain law and order in the districts along the colony's frontier with the Xhosa kingdoms in the Transkei.

A new constitution that prohibited discrimination on the basis of race and instituted the non-racial Cape Qualified Franchise partially assuaged some of the Xhosa people's grievances, leading to a period of relative peace on the frontier.

The FAMP was operationally deployed in the Transkei in 1858, against the Koranna in 1869, in apprehending the Zulu chief Langalibalele in 1873, in Griqualand West in 1875, and in the 9th Frontier War (1877–1878).

[2] Consequently, by 1876, the FAMP had grown to have units stationed at Komga, Queenstown, Palmietfontein, King Williams Town, Peddie, Butterworth, Kenhardt, Fort Murray, Ealing Post and Kokstad.

The FAMP were also re-organised for rapid mobility; lightly equipped and possessing considerable local knowledge, they formed a very effective police force for the rough and mountainous frontier terrain.

Finally in 1878, the FAMP were fully militarised, as a unit of the Colonial Forces, and renamed Cape Mounted Riflemen.

These conflicts were part of a wider surge of warfare across southern Africa, stemming from the attempt by the London Colonial Office to enforce a system of British-controlled Confederation onto the region.