 It served at Gallipoli and in Palestine during the First World War and returned to Egypt in the early part of the Second World War before transferring to the British Indian Army and redesignated 161st Indian Infantry Brigade.In peacetime and during the wars the brigade was an integral part of the 54th (East Anglian) Infantry Division and contained mostly battalions of the Essex Regiment.The Cardwell Reforms introduced the concept of 'localisation of the forces', whereby the country was divided into county sub-districts organised round the newly linked Line infantry battalions, to which the Militia and Volunteer Corps of the county were attached.