The 1st Regiment Otago Mounted Rifles , whose headquarters are at Dunedin, was formed on the 1st of May, 1901. The companies comprising the regiment are: A Squadron, Otago Hussars; B Squadron, North Otago Mounted Rifles; C Squadron, Clutha Mounted Rifles; D Squadron, Manitoto Mounted Rifles; E Squadron, Tuapeka Mounted Rifles; F Squadron, Taieri Mounted Rifles; and G Squadron, Waitaki Mounted Rifles. The staff officers of the 1st Regiment are: Lieutenant-Colonel J. C. Nichols, Captain-Adjutant Captain W. Marshall, Lieutenant-Quartermaster J. A. Park, Surgeon-Major M. Coughtrey, Hon. Veterinary Surgeon Captain W. D. Snowball, Quartermaster-Sergeant F. Morice, Sergeant-Trumpeter W. Rutherford. No regimental sergeant-major has yet (January, 1904) been appointed.

Lieutenant - Colonel Joseph Cowie Nichols , Commanding No. 1 Regiment of Otago Mounted Rifles, is the eldest son of the late Mr. Charles Nichols, of Dalgety and Company, Limited, and was born in Launceston, Tasmania, in 1859. He was educated at the Otago Boys' High School, Christ's College, Christchurch, and at Jesus College, Cambridge. He joined the High School cadets in Dunedin in 1872 and afterwards served in B Battery New Zealand Artillery and the Otago Hussars, from which he was transferred to the North Otago Mounted Rifles in 1887, and became captain in 1897. In 1901 he became Major-Commanding No. 1 Regiment Otago Mounted Rifles, and Lieutenant-Colonel on the 8th of September, 1902. Mr. Nichols is proprietor of Kuriheka estate, Maheno, which contains 5400 acres of freehold, and 20,000 acres of leasehold land, and carries about 13,000 sheep. He was married, in 1890, to a daughter of the late Mr. R. M. Ayre, of Benduck station, Hay, New South Wales, and has three sons and one daughter. Mr. Nichols was appointed a Justice of the Peace for New Zealand in 1903.

Quarter-master J. A. Park , of the staff of the 1st Regiment of the Otago Mounted Rifles, is elsewhere referred to among the former Mayors of Dunedin.

Captain W. D. Snowball, Hon. Veterinary Officer of the 1st Regiment, Otago Mounted Rifles, is referred to elsewhere in connection with the Dunedin City Abbatoirs.