British Army brigades had traditionally been ad hoc formations known by the name of their commander or numbered as part of a division. However, units involved in the Second Boer War in 1899 were organised into sequentially numbered brigades that were frequently reassigned between divisions. The Army Corps sent from Britain in 1899 comprised six brigades in three divisions while the troops already in South Africa were intended to constitute a fourth division. The rapid deterioration of the situation led the War Office to announce on 11 November 1899 that a 5th Division was to be formed and sent out. This consisted of the new 10th and 11th (Lancashire) Brigades and concentrated at Estcourt on 8 January 1900 for the campaign for the Relief of Ladysmith.[1][2][3]
However, The Royal Warwicks and Yorkshires were left at Cape Town to join Lord Roberts's army while the rest of the brigade continued on to join Sir Redvers Buller's Natal Field Force, where it was separated from 5th Division and used as Corps Troops. However, it returned to 5th Division for the Spion Kop, when Coke temporarily commanded the division and Lieutenant-Colonel A.W. Hill of the Middlesex commanded the brigade, which included the Imperial Light Infantry.[5][6][7]
After Spion Kop the brigade served at the Tugela Heights, Trichard's Drift, Tabanyama, Vaal Krantz, Hlangwane, Helpmakaar, Botha's Pass, Alleman's Nek, Charlestown and Paardekop. However, after the defeat of the main Boer field armies and the development of guerrilla warfare, all the divisions and brigades were broken up to form ad hoc 'columns' and garrisons.[8]
The 10th Infantry Brigade, commanded since August 1938 by BrigadierEvelyn Barker, again saw active service as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) that was sent to France after the outbreak of war in 1939, arriving there on 1 October, less than a month since the outbreak of the Second World War. The brigade and division were evacuated at Dunkirk after fierce fighting in the battles of France and Belgium.
After being based in the United Kingdom, the brigade spent many years on home defence and training duties, anticipating a German invasion which never arrived. The brigade was later sent to Algeria and Tunisia in 1943.
Maj A.F. Becke,History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 1: The Regular British Divisions, London: HM Stationery Office, 1934/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007, ISBN 1-847347-38-X.
Col John K. Dunlop, The Development of the British Army 1899–1914, London: Methuen, 1938.
Lt-Col H.F. Joslen, Orders of Battle, United Kingdom and Colonial Formations and Units in the Second World War, 1939–1945, London: HM Stationery Office, 1960/London: London Stamp Exchange, 1990, ISBN 0-948130-03-2/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2003, ISBN 1-843424-74-6.