In 1908, Ricketts became Bandmaster to the Band of the 2nd Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He went to the Orange River Colony (formerly the Orange Free State) to lead them. This colony is now the Republic of South Africa. The colonel asked him to write a new march for the Argylls, so Ricketts wrote "The Thin Red Line". It was not published until 1925.