The brigade was raised in 1908 upon the creation of the Territorial Force, formed by the amalgamation of the Volunteer Force and the Yeomanry, as the 1st West Riding Brigade, composed of four Volunteer battalions of the Prince of Wales's Own, including two of the Leeds Rifles. The brigade was assigned to the West Riding Division.
On the outbreak of the Great War in early August 1914, the division was immediately mobilised and most men volunteered for overseas service. In mid-May 1915 the brigade and division would become the 146th Brigade and 49th Division respectively. The battalions adopted the '1/' prefix to differentiate them from their 2nd Line duplicates, which were forming up as 185th Brigade, of the 62nd Division. The 2nd Line units were raised from those men who did not originally volunteer for overseas service, although many of them did end up seeing active service. The brigade served on the Western Front from July 1915 to the end of the war in November 1918. Two men from the brigade were awarded the Victoria Cross: CorporalSamuel Meekosha of the 1/6th Battalion and Corporal George Sanders of the 1/7th Battalion.
Both the brigade and division were disbanded shortly the war when the Territorial Force was itself disbanded. However it was reformed in the 1920s as the Territorial Army and the brigade was reformed with all four battalions of the West Yorkshire Regiment and continued to serve with the 49th Division, now as the 147th Infantry Brigade. In the late 1930s, however, many infantry battalions of the Territorial Army were converted to anti-aircraft and searchlight units and so, in 1936, the 8th Battalion, West Yorks was transferred to the Royal Artillery and converted into the 66th Anti-Aircraft Brigade, Royal Artillery and was transferred to 31st Anti-Aircraft Group, 2nd Anti-Aircraft Division. In 1937 the 6th Battalion was also converted to a different role. Transferring to the Royal Engineers, they became 49th Anti-Aircraft Battalion, Royal Engineers and became part of the 31st Anti-Aircraft Brigade, alongside the former 8th Battalion, West Yorks. In April 1938 the 7th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment was transferred to the Royal Tank Regiment and converted into 45th Royal Tank Regiment. In late 1936 the 4th Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment joined the brigade from the 46th Division which had been converted into the 2nd Anti-Aircraft Division. Later, the brigade also received the 4th Battalion, King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and the Hallamshire Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment which transferred in from the 148th Infantry Brigade of the 49th Division. The 5th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment, the only original battalion in the brigade, was transferred to 147th Infantry Brigade in 1938 when all brigades were reduced from four to three battalions. In 1939 the brigade was redesignated as the 146th Infantry Brigade
The brigade was mobilised between late August and early September 1939. Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War the brigade, with most of the 49th Division and 24th Guards Brigade, saw active service in the Norwegian Campaign in early 1940, which ended in disaster and evacuation. After briefly returning to the United Kingdom, the brigade and division was later stationed in Iceland, and adopted as its insignia the Polar Bear on an ice floe. In April 1942 they were transferred back to the United Kingdom. men of the Hallamshire Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment in the village of Fontenay-le-Pesnel, Normandy, France, 25 June 1944. The brigade remained there, training in many different roles, until early June 1944 when they were sent to Normandy under command of XXX Corps, shortly after the initial landings on 6 June where they fought throughout Operation Overlord in the Battle for Caen during Operation Martlet, Second Battle of the Odon and later, after the breakout and now attached to First Canadian Army, in Operation Astonia, the capture of Le Havre, and the Battle of the Scheldt. The brigade, with the rest of the 49th Division, saw their final battle in the Liberation of Arnhem in April 1945 and the fierce battles that led up to it. During the fighting on the Continent, the 49th Infantry Division was nicknamed "the Polar Bears" because of their divisional insignia. On 28 September 1944 Corporal John William Harper of the Hallamshire Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
Second World War order of battle
146th Brigade was constituted as follows during the war:
