The 1st battalion was stationed at Nova Scotia from 1884, moved to the Mediterranean in 1888 where it was stationed at Malta but also saw action in Egypt, then moved to Jersey in 1895 followed by Ireland in 1898. After a brief spell in Gibraltar in 1899, the battalion was posted to South Africa as reinforcement for the Second Boer War, where it was involved in the Relief of Kimberley and the battles of Diamond Hill (June 1900) and Belfast (August 1900). The battalion returned to the United Kingdom in September 1902.