part in a small engagement at Biddulphsberg and on 31 May, the regiment was present at the capture of Johannesburg. During its time in Africa, the regiment performed a variety of duties, including manning blockhouses, rather than just its involvement in the many battles of the war. In June 1902, the British and their Commonwealth Allies triumphed over the Boers, after suffering dreadful casualties, appalling conditions and the terrible fighting they took part in against their tough adversary, the Boers. Following the end of the war the battalion returned home, leaving Cape Town in the SS Winifredian and SS Michigan in September 1902, arriving at Southampton early the following month. They had proved their professionalism once more to the world, and returned to the usual public duties that accompany the Guards. Elsewhere, in 1901, the regiment gained its first Colonel-in-Chief, Edward VII, with the other Guards regiments also gaining the King as their Colonel-in-Chief. In 1906 the 3rd Battalion of the regiment was disbanded due to changes in the British Army. In 1910, Edward VII died and both battalions of the Scots Guards performed a variety of duties during the sad time, including lining the route of the procession. That same year the regiment gained its second Colonel-in-Chief, the newly crowned George V. In 1911, small detachments of the Scots Guards were involved in a decidedly unpleasant event, the Siege of Sidney Street. In 1910 a group of Latvian anarchists had attempted to rob a jewellers shop in Houndsditch in December 1910, and it had ended in the murder of three policemen and two being seriously wounded. A number of the gang were soon captured and on 1 January 1911, an informant had told the police that a small number of the gang were residing in 100 Sidney Street. On 3 January, after some fighting, the street was cordoned off to prevent the gang from escaping and, as the police were inadequately armed to fight the gang who had superior weapons, small detachments of the 1st Battalion, Scots Guards were called to the scene. Continuous gunfire raged between the police and Guardsmen and the small gang for the duration of the siege. Eventually, a fire began and soon afterwards two badly burnt members of the anarchist gang were discovered; one had been shot. Later that year, the regiment departed the UK for Egypt and returned home in 1913. World War