In the 19th century, the regiment spent most of the 19th century on garrison duty throughout the Empire. The regiment was not fundamentally affected by the Cardwell Reforms of the 1870s, which gave it a depot at Topsham Barracks in Exeter from 1873, or by the Childers reforms of 1881 – as it already possessed two battalions, there was no need for it to amalgamate with another regiment. Under the reforms the regiment became the Devonshire Regiment on 1 July 1881. At the same time it merged with the militia and rifle volunteer units of the county of Devon. It took part in the Tirah Campaign in 1897 and the Second Boer War in 1899. The 2nd Battalion fought in the Second Anglo-Afghan War, the Anglo-Ashanti wars and the Second Boer War.