They were stationed in India from 1896, but was sent to South Africa for service during the Second Boer War.
It was in combat again during the Mahdist War, at the First and Second Battles of El Teb in February 1884, the Battle of Tamai in March 1884 and at the Battle of Kirbekan in February 1885. The 1st Battalion saw action at the Battle of Tel el-Kebir in September 1882 during the Anglo-Egyptian War. The 42nd became the 1st Battalion, and the 73rd became the 2nd Battalion.
The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, when the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot (The Black Watch) was amalgamated with the 73rd (Perthshire) Regiment of Foot to form two battalions of the newly named Black Watch (Royal Highlanders). Other theories have been put forward for instance, that the name referred to the "black hearts" of the pro-government militia who had sided with the "enemies of true Highland spirit", or that it came from their original duty in policing the Highlands, namely preventing "blackmail" (Highlanders demanding extortion payments to spare cattle herds). This epithet may have come from the uniform plaids of dark tartan with which the companies were provided. The force was known in Gaelic as Am Freiceadan Dubh, "the dark" or "black watch". These were to be "employed in disarming the Highlanders, preventing depredations, bringing criminals to justice, and hindering rebels and attainted persons from inhabiting that part of the kingdom." Francis Hindes Groome states in his Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1901) that the watch was "embodied in a field in 1739". In 1725, following the Jacobite rebellion of 1715, General George Wade was authorised by George I to form six "watch" companies to patrol the Highlands of Scotland, three from Clan Campbell, one from Clan Fraser of Lovat, one from Clan Munro and one from Clan Grant. The source of the regiment's name is uncertain.
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