 The 3rd and 4th (Militia) battalions, from 1900 renamed as 5th and 6th battalions, were reserve battalions formed from the Worcester Militia in 1881.The 6th battalion was embodied in May 1900, disembodied in October that year, and later re-embodied for service in South Africa during the Second Boer War.About 615 officers and men returned to Southampton on the SS "Greek" in early October 1902, following the end of the war, when the battalion was disembodied at Worcester.