Formed in 1908, it served in the United Kingdom throughout the First World War and in 1920 it was converted as part of the Royal Garrison Artillery.

One existing cyclist company at Sunderland transferred from the 3rd Volunteer Battalion, Durham Light Infantry.

[4][a] In August 1914, the battalion was headquartered at the Hutton Terrace drill hall, Sandyford Road in Newcastle-on-Tyne[6] and had the following companies: At the outbreak of the First World War, the battalion was in Northern Command, unattached to any higher formation.

[10] On 4 July 1915, the battalion provided personnel for the 10th Provisional Cyclist Company[6] at Chapel St Leonards.

[11] One major change with the new Territorial Army had an effect on the number of infantry battalions.

Infantry were no longer to be included as Army Troops or part of the Coastal Defence Forces so the pre-war total of 208 battalions had to be reduced by 40.