It was mobilized as 22nd (Lucknow) Brigade at the outbreak of the First World War as part of Indian Expeditionary Force E. It served in Egypt in 1915 before being broken up in January 1916.

The brigade was reformed in India in 1917 for internal security duties and to aid the expansion of the Indian Army in the last year of the war.

It remained part of the British Indian Army between the wars under several designations and was the 6th (Lucknow) Infantry Brigade in September 1939.

Kitchener identified the Indian Army's main task as the defence of the North-West Frontier against foreign aggression (particularly Russian expansion into Afghanistan) with internal security relegated to a secondary role.

In the final year of the war, the division (and brigade) took part in the general expansion of the Indian Army as new units were formed.