It was April 1909 when Byng was promoted to major-general and, though he was placed on half pay, Byng—with added income from editing the "Cavalry Journal" and serving as the first north Essex District Commissioner for the Boy Scouts—purchased his first house, Newton Hall, in Dunmow, Essex. He would, however, only reside there for two years, as, exactly the same amount of time after taking command of the East Anglian Infantry Division of the Territorial Force in October 1910, Byng became General Officer Commanding the British Troops in Egypt, where he remained until the outbreak of the First World War. He then returned briefly to the United Kingdom to take leadership of the 3rd Cavalry Division before going with the British Expeditionary Force to France and the First Battle of Ypres. His actions there were rewarded in March 1915 with appointment as a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George.