- Mercian Regiment
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The Mercian Regiment 
Cap Badge of the Mercian RegimentActive 1 September 2007- Country United Kingdom Branch Army Type Line Infantry Role 1st Battalion - Light Role
2nd Battalion - Light Role
3rd Battalion - Armoured Infantry
4th Battalion - TA ReserveSize Four battalions Part of Prince of Wales' Division Garrison/HQ RHQ - Lichfield
1st Battalion - Catterick
2nd Battalion - Holywood
3rd Battalion - Fallingbostel, Germany
4th Battalion - WolverhamptonNickname The Heart of England's Infantry Motto Stand Firm and Strike Hard March Wha Wadna Fecht for Charlie/Under the Double Eagle (Quick)
Stand Firm and Strike Hard (Slow)Mascot Ram (Private Derby XXIX) Commanders Colonel in Chief HRH The Prince of Wales Colonel of
the RegimentBrigadier A. Sharpe, OBE Insignia Tactical Recognition Flash 
Arm Badge Stafford Knot and Glider
From Staffordshire RegimentAbbreviation MERCIAN The Mercian Regiment is an infantry regiment of the British Army, formed by the amalgamation of three existing regiments on 1 September 2007.[1]
The regiment has three regular army battalion's and one Territorial Army or reserve battalion. It was called the Mercian Regiment as it is generally recruits within the ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia.
Contents
Formation
The regiment's formation was announced on 16 December 2004 by the then Secretary of Defence Geoff Hoon and General Sir Mike Jackson as part of the restructuring of the British Army Infantry - it consists of three regular battalions, plus a territorial battalion, and was created through the merger of three single battalion regiments: The 1st Battalion, Cheshire Regiment became 1st Battalion, Mercian Regiment. The 1st Battalion, Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment became the 2nd Battalion, Mercian Regiment and the 1st Battalion, Staffordshire Regiment became the 3rd Battalion, Mercian Regiment. The reserve West Midlands Regiment, with elements of the King's and Cheshire Regiment and the East of England Regiment formed the 4th Battalion, Mercian Regiment.[2]
1st Battalion
The 1st Battalion is a light role battalion, part of the 4th Mechanized Brigade based at Catterick garrison in North Yorkshire, England.[3][4]
2nd Battalion
The 2nd Battalion is also a light role battalion, part of 19th Light Brigade based in Belfast Northern Ireland.[5]
3rd Battalion
The 3rd Battalion is an armoured infantry battalion, part of the 7th Armoured Brigade based in Bad Fallingbostel, Germany.[6]
4th Battalion
The 4th Battalion is the regiment reserve Territorial Army Light Role Infantry battalion.[7]
Regimental dress distinctions
The regiment's cap badge is a double headed Mercian Eagle with Saxon crown. This has been chosen because it forms a link to the regiment's recruiting area, which encompass a number of divergent counties that do not have traditional links, except under the ancient Kingdom of Mercia (unlike the other new regiments from Scotland, Wales and Yorkshire). It was originally intended to use the old Mercian Brigade badge worn by the Cheshire Regiment, Staffordshire Regiment, Worcestershire Regiment and Sherwood Foresters from 1958 to 1968, rather than create an amalgamated badge that would require elements from all of the antecedents. In 2005 this badge was rejected by the Army Dress Committee on the grounds that it had been the badge of a territorial unit, The Mercian Volunteers, junior to the amalgamating regiments.[8] Accordingly a slightly modified design featuring two colours of metal was adopted.[9]
Mercian Regiment in Ashbourne, Derbyshire on 18 March 2010
Various "Golden Threads", representing the traditions of predecessor units, are incorporated in the Mercian Regiment's uniform:
- Arm badge: a gold wire Stafford knot and glider badge with a backing of "Brown Holland" material on a black felt patch from the Staffordshire Regiment[10]
- Collar badge: Oak leaves and acorn from the Cheshire Regiment combined with the motto Firm from the Worcestershire Regiment[10]
- Facing colour: buff, from the Cheshire Regiment. To be worn on full dress uniform, mess dress and as piping on No.1 dress shoulder straps.[10]
- Sword frog on the Sam Browne Belt comes from the Worcestershire Regiment
- Officer's rank badges will be coloured bronze /gun metal, from the North Staffordshire Regiment[10]
- Warrant officers' and NCO's rank badges: Black backing from Staffordshire Regiment.[10]
- Cap badge backing: A square Lincoln green cloth backing worn behind the cap badge on the beret, from the Sherwood Foresters[10]
- Lanyards: Each battalion is to retain a distinctively coloured lanyard on No.2 dress: red cerise for the 1st battalion, Lincoln green for the 2nd, black for the 3rd and Mercian blue for the 4th. A regimental pattern with twists of cerise, buff and green also exists.[10]
- Tactical Recognition Flashes: The Regiment's TRF is a 3 vertical striped diamond with Cerise on the left, Buff in the middle and Lincoln Green on the right. Each Battalion also has their own, the 1st and 2nd Battalions use their anticendant Regiments flashes, Buff and Cerise for the 1st and Cerise and Lincoln Green for the 2nd. The 3rd battalion has a black diamond with the Staffordshire knot and the 4th Battalion has a blue diamond with the Mercian Eagle on it.[10]
- Regimental Side Hat: black with buff inner crease and green piping and peak. The cap badge is in silver and gold wire embroidery.[10]
- Pullover: Buff, worn by officers and WOs, from the Cheshire Regiment.[10]
- Stable Belt: Buff, from the Cheshire Regiment, with a bronze locket bearing the cap badge in brass.[10]
Mascot
Private Derby, a Derbyshire ram goat is the regimental mascot, inherited from the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters.[11]
Alliances
Although no list of regimental alliances has been announced as yet, due to the Mercian Regiment not forming until September 2007, using the large regiments that have formed already as examples, it can be assumed that all of the current alliances of the three individual regiments will be carried into the Mercian Regiment.
Antigua and Barbuda - Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force
Australia - The Royal Victoria Regiment
Canada - The Grey and Simcoe Foresters- Canada - 2nd Battalion, The Nova Scotia Highlanders (Cape Breton)
- Canada - Le Régiment de Maisonneuve (through its alliance with the King's Shropshire Light Infantry - KSLI
Jamaica - The Jamaica Regiment
Pakistan - 13th Battalion, The Punjab Regiment- Pakistan - 7th Battalion, The Baloch Regiment
Royal Navy - HMS Albion- Royal Navy - HMS Nottingham
Order of precedence
Preceded by
Yorkshire Regiment
(14th/15th, 19th and 33rd/76th Foot)Infantry Order of Precedence Succeeded by
Royal WelshLineage
Lineage The Mercian Regiment The 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment (29th/45th Foot) The Worcestershire Regiment The 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment The 36th (Herefordshire) Regiment The Sherwood Foresters
(Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment)The 45th (Nottinghamshire) Regiment The 95th (Derbyshire) Regiment The Staffordshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales's) The South Staffordshire Regiment The 38th (1st Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot The 80th (Staffordshire Volunteers) Regiment of Foot The North Staffordshire (Prince of Wales's) Regiment The 64th (2nd Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot The 98th (Prince of Wales's) Regiment of Foot References
- ^ Three infantry regiments to merge, (bbc.co.uk), accessed September 1, 2007
- ^ "Mercian Regiment". Ministry of Defence. http://www.army.mod.uk/infantry/regiments/mercian.aspx. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
- ^ "1 Mercian". Ministry of Defence. http://www.army.mod.uk/infantry/regiments/6447.aspx. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
- ^ "4th Mechanized Brigade". Ministry of Defence. http://www.army.mod.uk/structure/9958.aspx. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
- ^ "2 Mercian". Ministry of Defence. http://www.army.mod.uk/infantry/regiments/6505.aspx. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
- ^ "3 Mercian". Ministry of Defence. http://www.army.mod.uk/infantry/regiments/6449.aspx. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
- ^ "4 Mercian". Ministry of Defence. http://www.army.mod.uk/infantry/regiments/7117.aspx. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
- ^ Regiment's 'strangled chicken' badge rejected, (telegraph.co.uk), accessed August 22, 2007
- ^ "Regimental Customs and Traditions". The Mercian Regiment. 2009. http://www.army.mod.uk/documents/general/MERCIAN_Customs.doc. Retrieved 2009-04-30.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Dress Regulations for the Mercian Regiment". Ministry of Defence. January 2009. http://www.army.mod.uk/documents/general/MERCIAN_Dress_Regs.pdf. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
- ^ "Mascots". Ministry of Defence. http://www.army.mod.uk/infantry/regiments/12157.aspx. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
External links
British Army Infantry Regiments Grenadier Guards · Coldstream Guards · Scots Guards · Irish Guards · Welsh Guards · Royal Regiment of Scotland · Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment · Duke of Lancaster's Regiment · Royal Regiment of Fusiliers · Royal Anglian Regiment · Yorkshire Regiment · Royal Welsh · Mercian Regiment · Royal Irish Regiment · Parachute Regiment · Royal Gurkha Rifles · The Rifles · London Regiment · Royal Gibraltar Regiment · Bermuda Regiment
Categories:- Current infantry regiments of the British Army
- Infantry regiments of the British Army
- Military units and formations established in 2007
- Military units and formations of the United Kingdom in the War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
- Mercia
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