The 1st Battalion moved to Malta in 1889 while the 2nd Battalion went to India in 1892; the 1st Battalion moved to Pembroke Dock in December 1893 where almost all the regiment's artifacts, plate and silver were lost in a large fire in 1895. The 1st Battalion was dispatched to South Africa in November 1899 for the Second Boer War: it was engaged in Battle of Paardeberg in February 1900, where they suffered heavy losses, and again at the Battle of Driefontein in March 1900.