He suffered a serious defeat at the Battle of Magersfontein, during which he failed to carry out adequate reconnaissance and accordingly his artillery bombarded the wrong place leading to the Highland Brigade taking heavy casualties.

[1] Educated at Eton College, Methuen served two years as a cornet in the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry and then joined the Scots Fusilier Guards as an ensign in the regiment and lieutenant in the army on 22 November 1864.

[4] He became brigade major, Home District in 1871 and saw active duty on the staff of Sir Garnet Wolseley at Amoaful in 1873 during the Third Anglo-Ashanti War.

His greatest defeat was at the Battle of Magersfontein, during which he failed to carry out adequate reconnaissance and accordingly his artillery bombarded the wrong place leading to the Highland Brigade taking heavy casualties.

Boer General Koos de la Rey released him due to the severity of his injuries, providing his personal cart to take Methuen to the hospital in Klerksdorp.

[19] Following the end of hostilities in early June 1902, he left Cape Town with other invalids and convalescents on board the SS Assaye, arriving in Southampton the following month, still walking with crutches.

[21]For his war service, he received the Queen's South Africa Medal with clasps and was promoted to a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 1901 South Africa Honours list (the order was dated to 29 November 1900,[22] and he was only invested as such after his return home, by King Edward VII at Buckingham Palace on 24 October 1902[23]) He was further promoted to a Knight Grand Cross in the Order (GCB) in the October 1902 South Africa Honours list,[24] and invested with the insignia by the King at Buckingham Palace on 18 December 1902.

[30] He became General Officer Commanding-in-Chief in South Africa in April 1908[31] and Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Natal in January 1910[32] before being promoted to field marshal on 19 June 1911.

[33] Methuen helped raise the standards of training of the British Expeditionary Force in 1914[1] and was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Malta in February 1915, a post he held until he retired in May 1919.