930 officers and men of the regiment left Southampton in the SS Bavarian in March 1900,[12] and in April arrived in Natal as reinforcements.

[16] When the Boers proved more resilient than predicted, a number of regiments recruited in large centres of population formed additional regular battalions.

More than 640 officers and men returned to Southampton by the SS Guelph in October 1902, following the end of the war, and was disbanded at the Ashton barracks.

The following year, the 1st moved to India, where, in 1911, the battalion paraded at the Delhi Durbar, attended by King George V and Queen Mary.

Shortly afterwards the Territorial Force was invited to volunteer for overseas service and the bulk of the East Lancashire Division did so.

Those men who were ineligible for overseas service, together with the volunteers who were flooding in, were formed into second line units distinguished with a '2/' prefix (2/5th Manchesters etc) .

Despite capturing a trench line, the Germans were unable to capitalise due to the actions of a platoon commanded by Second-Lieutenant James Leach.

[35] For their contribution to the defence of the Manchesters' trenches, Second-Lieutenant Leach and Sergeant John Hogan were awarded the Victoria Cross.

[37] The 2nd Manchesters embarked for France with the 5th Division in August 1914 and contributed to the rearguard actions that supported the British Expeditionary Force's (BEF) retreat following the Battle of Mons.

During the action, Company Sergeant-Major George Evans, of the 18th, volunteered to deliver an important message, having witnessed five previous, fatal attempts to do so.

[41] On 2 April 1917, the 2nd Manchesters attacked Francilly-Selency, in which C Company captured a battery of 77 mm guns and a number of machine-guns.

[46] After serving on the Western Front from July 1915 with 17th (Northern) Division, including the Ypres Salient and the battles of the Somme and Arras, 12th (Service) Battalion amalgamated with Regimental HQ and two squadrons of the Manchester-based Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry (DLOY), who had been dismounted and retrained as infantry.

Faced with the prospect of continued American reinforcement (who had entered the war in April 1917) of the Allied armies, the Germans urgently sought a decisive victory on the Western Front.

During the course of the battle, Elstob single-handedly repulsed a grenadier attack and made a number of journeys to replenish dwindling ammunition supplies.

[55] In September 1914, just before the Ottoman Empire entered the war on Germany's side, six of the regiment's battalions joined the Egypt garrison.

[56] They belonged to the East Lancashire Division of the Territorial Force, which was selected to release Regular Army troops for service in active theatres.

[60] During the Battle of Krithia Vineyard, the Manchesters suffered heavy losses and gained a Victoria Cross for gallantry by Lieutenant Forshaw of the 1/9th Battalion.

[61] The 1st Manchesters embarked for the Mesopotamian campaign, accompanying the infantry element of the Indian Corps, from France in late 1915.

[62] During a raid by German Zeppelin L 21 on the night of 31 March - 1 April 1916, 31 soldiers of the 3rd Manchesters were killed when a bomb hit their billet at Cleethorpes.

In difficult conditions, the battalion suffered four killed and contributed a number of men to the counter-insurgency Special Night Squads.

[71] Meanwhile, in 1920, the 2nd Manchesters became part of the garrison in Mesopotamia,[72] which had been acquired by Britain as a mandate territory under the auspices of the League of Nations.

[76][77] When the German Army invaded France in May 1940, the 2nd, 5th and 1/9th Manchesters formed part of the British Expeditionary Force - the 2nd and 1/9th were Machine Gun battalions.

Captain Jack Churchill, the only known man to kill an enemy with a longbow in the Second World War, was serving with the Manchester Regiment during this period.

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

The 1st Manchesters, after entering German territory in the face of the Wehrmacht's defences, crossed the Rhine with the 53rd Division in late March.

[89] Stationed in Singapore from 1938, the 1st Battalion, Manchesters, as part of the 2nd Malaya Infantry Brigade, saw action during the Japanese invasion of the island in February 1942.

[90] The 1st Manchesters remained in Germany as part of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) until it returned to Britain in 1947, where it was joined by the 2nd Battalion.

[93] The Museum of the Manchester Regiment, which had previously been based at Ladysmith Barracks, moved to Ashton Town Hall in 1987.

[95] The regimental collect was:[96] O Lord our God whose name only is excellent and thy praise above heaven and earth we thank thee for the men of the Manchester Regiment who counted not their lives dear unto themselves but laid them down for their friends, beseeching thee to give them a part in those good things which thou has prepared for all whose names are written in the Book of Life.

And grant to us that having them always in remembrance we may imitate their faithfulness and with them inherit, the new name which thou has promised to them that overcome; through Jesus Christ our Lord.