action with a Boer Commando on 19/20 September 1901, after which he took command of the regiment himself (now aged 29), and remained in command until the end of the war. The war ended in June 1902, and Lord Lovat relinquished his commission with the Imperial Yeomanry and was granted the honorary rank of major in the Army on 11 July 1902. He returned to the United Kingdom with the corps on the SS Tintagel Castle the following month, arriving to a public welcome in Inverness in late August. For his service in the war, he was mentioned in despatches (including the final despatch by Lord Kitchener dated 23 June 1902), was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1900, and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in October 1902. After the end of the Second Boer War, the remaining two companies (which had been attached to the Imperial Yeomanry for the latter part of the war) returned to the United Kingdom and were disbanded. The unit was reformed the following year, consisting of two regiments, titled the 1st and 2nd Lovat Scouts. From these scouts a sharpshooter unit was formed and formally become the British Army's first sniper unit. Lord Lovat was appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in 1903 by King Edward VII. He later served as aide-de-camp to King George V. First World War In World War I, he commanded the Highland Mounted Brigade of the 2nd Mounted Division, being promoted Brigadier-General in September 1914. He was appointed a Knight of the Thistle in 1915 for demonstrable leadership and courage. In March 1916, he took command of the 4th Mounted Division and became a Major General two months later. He became a Rhodes Trustee in 1917, the same year as Rudyard Kipling. In 1919, Lovat was awarded Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George and was appointed Chairman of the Army Forestry Commission, serving from 1919 to 1927. Political career Apart from a military career Lovat was also Chairman of the Forestry Commission from 1919 to 1927 and served in the Conservative administration of Stanley Baldwin as Under-Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs from 1927 to 1929. Personal life In February 1910, Lord Lovat was rumoured to be engaged to American heiress, Edith Clark, a daughter of Charles S. Clark of New York and Grosvenor Square,