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The South Wales Borderers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for 280 years. It came into existence in England in 1689, as Sir Edward Dering's Regiment of Foot, and afterwards had a variety of names and headquarters. In 1782, it became the 24th Regiment of Foot, and had its depot in Warwickshire. Based at Brecon from 1873, the regiment recruited from the border counties of Brecknockshire, Monmouthshire, and Herefordshire. It was not called the South Wales Borderers until the Childers Reforms of 1881. The regiment served in a great many conflicts, including the American War of Independence, various conflicts in India, the Zulu War, Second Boer War, and World War I and World War II. In 1969 the regiment was amalgamated with the Welch Regiment to form the Royal Regiment of Wales.

The regiment was formed by Sir Edward Dering, 3rd Baronet as Sir Edward Dering's Regiment of Foot in 1689, becoming known, like other regiments, by the names of its subsequent colonels. The regiment served under the Duke of Schomberg during the Williamite War in Ireland and then saw action again at the Battle of Schellenberg in July 1704 and at the Battle of Blenheim in August 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. The regiment was part of the amphibious expedition to the Caribbean and participated in the disastrous British defeat at the Battle of Cartagena de Indias in March 1741 during the War of Jenkins' Ear. The regiment was ranked as 24th in the British Army order of precedence in 1747 and became the 24th Regiment of Foot in 1751. It was also part of the amphibious expedition against, or descent on, the coast of France and participated in the disastrous British defeat at the Battle of Saint Cast in September 1758. In June 1776 the regiment was sent to Quebec where it subsequently fought American rebels who had invaded the province during their War of Independence. The regiment was part of the 5,000 British and Hessian force, under the command of General John Burgoyne, that surrendered to the American rebels in the Saratoga campaign in summer 1777 and remained imprisoned until 1783. The vast majority of the 1st Battalion was captured at sea by the French at the action of 3 July 1810 near the Comoro Islands; they had been on the East Indiamen Astell, Ceylon and Windham when a French frigate squadron captured the last two ships. They were released the following year. The 1st Battalion took part in the Anglo Nepalese War in November 1814. The regiment was deployed to Canada in 1829 and remained there until 1842.

In 1879 both battalions took part in the Anglo Zulu War, begun after a British invasion of Zululand, ruled by Cetshwayo. The 24th Regiment of Foot took part in the crossing of the Buffalo River on 11 January, entering Zululand. The first engagement (and the most disastrous for the British) came at Isandlwana. The British had pitched camp at Isandlwana and not established any fortifications due to the sheer size of the force, the hard ground and a shortage of entrenching tools. The 24th Foot provided most of the British force and when the overall commander, Lord Chelmsford, split his forces on 22 January to search for the Zulus, the 1st Battalion (5 companies) and a company of the 2nd Battalion were left behind to guard the camp, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Henry Pulleine (CO of the 1/24th Foot). During the battle Lieutenant Colonel Pulleine ordered Lieutenants Coghill and Melvill to save the Queen's Colour—the Regimental Colour was located at Helpmekaar with G Company. The two Lieutenants attempted to escape by crossing the Buffalo River where the Colour fell and was lost downstream, later being recovered. Both officers were killed. At this time the Victoria Cross (VC) was not awarded posthumously. This changed in the early 1900s when both Lieutenants were awarded posthumous Victoria Crosses for their bravery. The Battle of Isandlwana was dramatized in the 1979 movie Zulu Dawn.

After the battle of Isandlwana, some 4,000 to 5,000 Zulus headed for Rorke's Drift, a small missionary post garrisoned by a company of the 2nd Battalion of the 24th Foot, a few native levies, and others under the command of Lieutenant Chard, Royal Engineers. The most senior officer of the 24th present was Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead. Two Boer cavalry officers, Lieutenants Adendorff and Vane, arrived to inform the garrison of the defeat at Isandlwana. The Acting Assistant Commissary James Dalton persuaded Bromhead and Chard to stay and the small garrison frantically prepared rudimentary fortifications. The Zulus first attacked at 4:30 pm. Throughout the day the garrison was attacked from all sides, including rifle fire from the heights above the garrison, and bitter hand to hand fighting often ensued. At one point the Zulus entered the hospital, which was stoutly defended by the wounded inside until it was set alight and eventually burnt down. The battle raged on into the early hours of 23 January but by dawn the Zulu Army had withdrawn. Lord Chelmsford and a column of British troops arrived soon afterwards. The garrison had suffered 15 killed during the battle (two died later) and 11 defenders were awarded the Victoria Cross for their distinguished defence of the post, seven going to soldiers of the 24th Foot. The stand at Rorke's Drift was immortalised in the 1964 movie Zulu.

The regiment was not fundamentally affected by the Cardwell Reforms of the 1870s, which gave it a depot at The Barracks, Brecon from 1873, or by the Childers reforms of 1881 – as it already possessed two battalions, there was no need for it to amalgamate with another regiment. However, it now had close links with South Wales, with a number of Militia and Volunteer battalions from the region linked to it. The 3rd (Militia) Battalion was formed of the former Royal South Wales Borderers Militia and the 4th from the Royal Montgomeryshire Rifles. It also had four (later five) Volunteer Battalions attached to it. Under the reforms the regiment became The South Wales Borderers on 1 July 1881. The 1st Battalion was stationed in Egypt from 1892, then moved to British India. The battalion had various postings, including at Peshawar until late 1902 when it was posted to Mian Mir outside Lahore. The 1st Battalion remained in India until December 1910, when it was redeployed to garrison Chatham.

2nd Battalion arrived in Cape Colony in early February 1900 and saw action at the Battle of Elands River in September 1901 during the Second Boer War. During its service in South Africa the 2nd Bn was supplemented by a Volunteer Service Company provided by the regiment's volunteer battalions, which served as 'I' Company. The 3rd (Militia) Battalion was embodied in January 1900, and the following month embarked for service in South Africa, arriving in Cape Town on the SS Cheshire in early March 1900. The 4th (Militia) Battalion was embodied for garrison duty at home.

In 1908, the Volunteers and Militia were reorganised nationally (the Haldane Reforms), with the former becoming the Territorial Force (TF) and the latter the Special Reserve (SR). The regiment now had one SR battalion (the 3rd (Reserve) Bn at Brecon Barracks) and one TF battalion (the 1st Brecknockshire Bn at Conway Street drill hall, Brecon). The all TF Monmouthshire Regiment comprising three battalions was also affiliated to it.

The 1st Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the 3rd Brigade in the 1st Division with the British Expeditionary Force in August 1914 for service on the Western Front. The 2nd Battalion landed at Laoshan Bay for operations against the German territory of Tsingtao in September 1914 and saw action at the Siege of Tsingtao in October 1914. 2/1st and 3/1st Brecknockshire Battalions were formed in September 1914 and April 1915 respectively to provide TF reinforcements. Both were absorbed into other Welsh reserve units as the war progressed. Also formed were the 13th and 14th (Reserve) Battalions in 1915, the shortlived 15th (Service) Battalion in June 1918, and the 52nd and 53rd (Graduated) and 54th (Young Soldier) Battalions, which were all training units. Meanwhile, the 2nd Battalion was sent overseas to Barrackpore in India in 1919, being present in Jhansi in 1921, redeploying to Delhi in 1925, Aden in 1927 then returning to garrison Portsmouth in February 1929.

The 1st Battalion was deployed to Palestine to deal with the volatile uprising in Palestine there in October 1945 and then moved to Cyprus in April 1946. The 2nd Battalion was disbanded in May 1948 as a consequence of defence cuts implemented shortly after the Second World War. The regiment was posted to Minden, Germany in June 1959 and returned home three years later.

The regiment's battle honours were as follows: The khaki service dress adopted in 1902, and battle dress in 1938, was of the universal pattern.

1752–1776: Lt Gen Hon. Edward Cornwallis

1884–1888: Gen. Sir Charles Henry Ellice, GCB
1888–1898: Gen. Edmund Wodehouse
1898–1900: Lt Gen. Richard Thomas Glyn, CB, CMG
1900–1902: Maj Gen. Henry James Degacher, CB
1902–1922: Maj Gen. George Paton, CMG
1922–1931: Gen. Sir Alexander Stanhope Cobbe, VC, GCB, KCSI, DSO
1931–1944: Maj Gen. Llewellyn Isaac Gethin Morgan Owen, CB, CMG, CBE, DSO
1944–1950: Maj Gen. Dudley Graham Johnson, VC, CB, DSO, MC
1950–1954: Gen. Sir Alfred Reade Godwin Austen, KCSI, CB, OBE, MC
1954–1961: Maj Gen. Francis Raymond Gage Matthews, CB, DSO
1961–1969: Maj Gen. Sir David Peel Yates, DSO, OBE