Private Surtees Villiers enlisted into the 1st Battalion on the 7th of February 1894 at the age of 18 years. He had been a Laundryman by trade from St Neots in Huntingdonshire.  

He deserted at Colchester on the 5th of March 1894, re-joined on the 21st of April 1894 and was tried by Court Martial on the 27th of April 1894 and was given 56 days imprisonment. He was released on the 22nd of June 1894.  

Surtees was posted to the 2nd Battalion on the 24th of December 1896 and served in the Tirah campaign of 1897-98 and then to the Mounted Infantry on the 14th of May 1901 when he went to South Africa.  

He was posted to the Depot and then demobilised on the 16th of September 1902 and transferred to the Reserves on the 12th of November 1902.  On the 29th of January 1906 he re-engaged and was finally discharged on the 31st of March 1910 after completing 16 years’ service.