Educated at Oxford and a member of the Oxford University polo team Lord Lovat was commissioned into the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders and promoted Lieutenant in 1890, but transferred to the 1st Life Guards in 1894. In 1897 he resigned from the Regular Army and joined a volunteer battalion of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders. In 1899 he raised the Lovat Scouts, and served as their second-in-command in the South African War, where he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. In World War I, he commanded the Highland Mounted Brigade of the 2nd Mounted Division, being promoted Brigadier-General in September 1914. 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