The First City Volunteers were formed in 1875 in Grahamstown.
The First City Volunteers fought in the Cape Frontier Wars (9th Frontier War,1877–1878), the Basuto Gun Wars (1880–1881), the Bechuanaland campaign (1897) and Boer War.
Tylden says:
Raised in 1875 and still in existence, being always spoken of as the First City. The date of raising is the 7th October, but the date of gazetting the 18th November. During the Ninth Kaffir War of 1877, Capt. Sampson and the M.I. Company served for three months in the Transkeian area. An M.I. company has often been a feature of the regiment's organisation. A contingent under Capt. Minto also served in the same area. In September, 1880, Capt. Sampson, two officers and 70 men served with the H.Q. Column in Basutoland, suffering casualties at Lerotholi's Kraal on the 31st October. The long Snider and triangular bayonet was carried at this time. In January, 1881, a second contingent under Capt. Young relieved the first party, and on the 15th February formed the face of the square at Ramabidikwe, which was charged by the Basuto. Twenty-five of the Basuto were killed close to the bayonets and two bayonetted inside the square. The Dukes and P.A.G. were on the same face of the square. In 1897 the Commanding Officer was Major H. T. Tamplin, K.C., who, with Major Deare, of the P.A.G., proposed the sending of Dominion and Coloma! troops to England on important occasions.
In 1899, for the S.A. War, the regiment, in conjunction with the Uitenhage Volunteer Rifles, raised four companies of M.I., but the intials on the shoulder-straps, "I.C.V.", led to confusion with the "C.I.V." (City of London Imperial Volunteers) and the name of the First City was altered, as far as the M.I. were concerned to Marshall's Horse.
See the forum posts on the 1CV.
