The first commanding officer of the force was Lt. Col. John Scott Armitage and the Colonel of the Regiment was HRH Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales.

The Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteer force troops were sent to South Africa in 1900, for the Boer war and after the distinguish service in South Africa the force obtained the Banner from HRH The Duke of York.In 1902, King Edward VII became the Colonel-in-Chief.

In the ambush of the Four Four Bravo patrol from the C Company of the 1st Battalion marked the beginning of the Sri Lanka civil war.

Since then the SLLI has been deployed combat operations thought out the island and has expanded to its present size of 15 Battalions.

With the declaration of the Republic of Sri Lanka were land to rest within the regimental museum on 29 June 1974.

In early stage, from March 1881 to 28 November 1881 volunteer corps used an elephant and a coconut tree as their emblem.

[5] With the declaration of republic of Sri Lanka 1st and 2nd battalions of CLI decided to retain as much with the configuration and pattern of the existing badge.