[citation needed] Lyttelton was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Rifle Brigade on 4 December 1901, and served with the regiment in the Second Boer War in South Africa.

He returned home with the SS Kinfauns Castle after the war had ended, leaving Cape Town in early August 1902.

During the First World War he fought at Gallipoli and in Egypt, the Sinai and Palestine, achieving the rank of lieutenant colonel.

They had five children together: Cobham died in July 1949, aged 67, and was succeeded in his titles by his son Charles, who later served as Governor-General of New Zealand.

Lord Cobham is buried in the Lyttleton family plot at St John the Baptist Church, Hagley.