The 2nd battalion (105th) was stationed at Malta in 1884, moved to British India in 1887, then to Mauritius in February 1899. Following the outbreak of the Second Boer War in October 1899, the battalion transferred to South Africa, where it fought at the Battle of Modder River in November 1899. The battalion stayed in South Africa throughout the war, which ended in June 1902 with the Peace of Vereeniging. In October that year 790 officers and men of the battalion left Point Natal on the SS "Staffordshire" bound for Malta, where they were then stationed.