Sclater-Booth was commissioned a
lieutenant in the
1st (Royal) Dragoons on 2 August 1892. He was promoted to
captain on 1 October 1897, and
major on 2 February 1898. After the outbreak of the
Second Boer War in October 1899, the 1st Dragoons was sent to
South Africa where it arrived at
Durban in November. Under the command of Lord Basing, the regiment formed part of the force sent to
relieve Ladysmith, taking part in the battles of
Colenso (December 1899),
Spion Kop (January 1900), and the
Tugela Heights (February 1900). From June 1900 to April 1901 the regiment was employed guarding the
Buffalo River and the
Transvaal approaches to the
Drakensberg. Lord Basing received the
brevet rank of
lieutenant-colonel on 29 November 1900, and in late Spring 1901 he was given an independent command, composed of his own regiment and the necessary complement of artillery. Lord Basing's column was the only purely regimental column formed during the war. In July and August 1901 the column operated in the country of the
Magaliesberg and
Western Transvaal. During the rest of the war they were employed in the
Orange River Colony. On 2 February 1902 Lord Basing was promoted to the full rank of lieutenant-colonel and appointed formally in command of the regiment. He spent some time in India in an official capacity, with a small account of his daily life and dealings there being contained within chapter three of the book
My Mother Told Me by
Charles Chenevix Trench, recounted to the author by May Hargreaves. He was awarded the 2nd class of the Prussian
Order of the Red Eagle in late 1902, following an inspection of the Royal Dragoons by Emperor
Wilhelm II, who was colonel-in-chief of the regiment. Lord Basing died aged 59 at Hoddington House, near
Upton Grey in Hampshire, England, and was buried in St. Mary's Churchyard, Upton Grey, Basingstoke and Dean Borough, Hampshire. ==Family==