The British Central Africa Volunteer Reserve was formally established by the colonial government in 1901 and was renamed when the protectorate became Nyasaland in 1907.

Members of the unit participated in the 13 August 1914 attack on the German steamship Hermann von Wissmann at Sphinx Hafen, the first naval action of the war.

The NVR and the King's African Rifles (KAR) were involved in the suppression of the January 1915 Chilembwe uprising against British rule in Nyasaland.

Post-war the unit struggled to attract volunteers and the Nyasaland government proposed abolishing the NVR or merging it with the police.

[3][1] The volunteer reserve continued its civilian traditions; it was managed by an "organising secretary" and members in this period paid a subscription, much like they had to the rifle clubs.

Under the new rules each section had to maintain a minimum of ten men and each new member had to be nominated by two existing volunteers and receive the approval of a central committee.

[4][5] The NVR members competed in shooting competitions against the volunteer reserves of the British East African colonies of Kenya and Uganda.

[4] The NVR seems to have had some, perhaps informal, oversight from the King's African Rifles (KAR), the African-manned regular army regiment of British East Africa.

In 1911 the KAR's inspector-general, Colonel George Thesiger, recommended that the NVR received military training and practice drills, but this was not implemented.

[6] One of Barton's first actions was to attempt to form a sixth section at Magomero, where A. L. Bruce Estates had donated land for a shooting range, but he was unable to find the ten recruits necessary.

Five shilling supplements were paid to volunteers who completed 15-hour courses in semaphore; map making and reconnaissance; the use of Maxim and Nordenfelt machine guns and field artillery; and Morse code.

Photographs from the First World War show the uniform to consist of a long-sleeved khaki shirt, khakit shorts, a solar topee, blue puttees and black boots.

Following the outbreak of the First World War in late July 1914 Charles Thorburn, formerly of the Royal Scots Fusiliers, was appointed commanding officer of the NVR on 5 August.

[8] The NVR were mobilised by Nyasaland governor Sir George Smith on 20 August, by which point some members of the unit had already participated in action, on their own initiative.

[9] In one of the opening actions of the East African campaign, a number of NVR men helped man the steamship Gwendolen during a 13 August attack on the German vessel Hermann von Wissmann at Sphinx Hafen on Lake Nyasa.

The Limbe sub-section was established as a formal section of the NVR by order of 31 March 1916 and during the war peaked at 43 members, of whom 30 were of Indian ethnicity.

[12] A force of the NVR numbering around 2 officers and 54 men underwent 10 days of training at Zomba before being dispatched by steamship to Karonga in northern Nyasaland.

At the same time the Nyasaland Field Force moved north to engage the Germans that Barton thought were posted to Kaporo.

He sent the 1st battalion of the KAR cross country to the fort while he led the remainder of the force, which included the NVR, to the coast of Lake Nyasa to cut off the German line of retreat.

It began with an attack on the Bruce Estates at Magomero on 23 January 1915, apparently in an attempt to seize the NVR arsenal there, during which three European planters were killed.

[21][19] Those NVR men involved in suppressing the Chilembwe Uprising received the Africa General Service Medal with the "Nyasaland 1915" clasp.

Having landed a short distance to the south of the port a force of the KAR and NVR launched a bayonet charge on the German fort.

[24] A detachment of troops from South Africa was sent to support the NVR in Northern Nyasaland in August 1915 and was known as the Union Central African Imperial Service Contingent.

He described the NVR of this period as being formed of railway workers and farmers from Nyasland, Northern Rhodesia, the Belgian Congo and Portuguese African territories, together with a number of Frenchmen and 1-2 Russians.

[27] Letcher the African Chewa and Swahili languages, which made them valuable as interpreters to the porters and local population, and that the volunteers wore no badges of rank and each received the same pay (10 shillings a day).

[28] In May 1916 British forces, acting in conjunction with Belgian troops from the Congo, crossed into German East Africa as part of the Tabora Offensive.

[23] By 1930 the NVR had ten sections stationed at Zomba, Blantyre, Port Herald, Namwera, Mlanje, Chiradzulu, Limbe, Mikalongwe, Fort Lister and Dedza.