Cape Town’s inability to control the territory led to its return to crown control in 1884 as the Territory of Basutoland. The colony was bound by the Orange River Colony, Natal Colony, and Cape Colony. It was divided into seven administrative districts: Berea, Leribe, Maseru, Mohale’s Hoek, Mafeteng, Qacha’s Nek and Quthing. The colony was ruled by the British Resident Commissioner, who worked through the pitso (national assembly) of hereditary native chiefs under one paramount chief. Each chief ruled a ward within the territory. The first paramount chief was Lerothodi, the son of Moshoeshoe. During the Second Boer War the colony was neutral. The population grew from around 125,000 in 1875, to 310,000 in 1901, and to 349,000 by 1904.

When the Union of South Africa was founded in 1910 the colony was still controlled by the British and moves were made to transfer it to the Union. However the people of Basutoland opposed this and it did not occur.

During the course of World War I, over 4,500 Basuto enlisted into the military, most of whom served in the South African Native Labour Corps which fought on the Western Front. In 1916, Basutoland raised over £40,000 for the war effort. A year later, the troopship SS Mendi was sunk off the coast of the Isle of Wight, over 100 Basuto were killed in the sinking.^[9]

The differing fates of the seSotho-speaking peoples in the Protectorate of Basotholand and in the lands that became the Orange Free State are worth noting. The Orange Free State became a Boer-ruled territory. At the end of the Boer War, it was colonised by the British, and this colony was subsequently incorporated by Britain into the Union of South Africa as one of four provinces. It is still part of the modern day Republic of South Africa, now known as the Free State. In contrast, Basotholand, along with the two other British Protectorates in the sub-Saharan region (Bechuanaland and Swaziland), was precluded from incorporation into the Union of South Africa. These protectorates were individually brought to independence by Britain in the 1960s. By becoming a protectorate, Basotholand and its inhabitants were not subjected to Afrikaner rule, which saved them from experiencing Apartheid, and so generally prospered under more benevolent British rule. Basotho residents of Basotholand had access to better health services and to education, and came to experience greater political emancipation through independence. These lands protected by the British, however, had a much smaller capacity to generate income and wealth than had the “lost territory”, which had been granted to the Boers.

Following the British entry into World War II, the decision was taken to draw recruits from the High Commission Territories (HTC) of Swaziland, Basutoland and Bechuanaland. Black citizens from the HTC were to be recruited into the African Auxiliary Pioneer Corps (AAPC) labor unit due to Afrikaner opposition to armed black units.^[10] Mobilization for the AAPC was launched in late July 1941 and by October 18,000 personnel had arrived in the Middle East.^[11] The anti-colonial Basutoland Lekhorlu la Bufo (Commoner’s League) was banned and its leaders were imprisoned for demanding that training for the recruits be improved and encouraging desertion.^[12][13] The AAPC performed a wide range of manual labor, providing logistical support to the Allied war effort during the North African, Dodecanese and Italian campaigns.^[14][15] During the Italian campaign some AAPC relieved British field artillery units of their duty.^[16] On 1 May 1943, British troopship SS Erinpura was torpedoed and sunk, resulting in the loss of 694 men from AAPC’s 1919th and 1927th Basuto Companies; the unit’s worst loss of life during the war.^[14] A total of 21,000 Basuto enlisted during the war, 1,105 of whom perished during its course.^[9] Basuto women also contributed to the war effort by knitting warm clothing for the military.^[9]

From 1948, the South African National Party put its apartheid policies into place, indirectly terminating any support among Basutos and/or UK colonial authorities for the country’s incorporation in South Africa.

After a 1955 request by the Basutoland Council to legislate its internal affairs, in 1959 a new constitution gave Basutoland its first elected legislature. This was followed in April 1965 with general legislative elections with universal adult suffrage in which the Basotho National Party (BNP) won 31 and the Basutoland Congress Party (BCP) won 25 of the 65 seats contested.