Mercian Regiment

The Mercian Regiment is an infantry regiment of the British Army, formed by the amalgamation of three existing regiments on 1 September 2007.

The regiment has three regular army battalions and one Territorial Army or reserve battalion, though this is set to decrease in the next decade to two battalions as the 3rd Battalion is disbanded. It is called the Mercian Regiment as it generally recruits from within the territory occupied by the former Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia.

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.

1st Battalion
The 1st Battalion is a light role battalion, part of the 4th Mechanized Brigade based at Catterick garrison in North Yorkshire, England. It will move to Bulford as an armoured infantry battalion under Army 2020.

2nd Battalion
The 2nd Battalion is also a light role battalion, part of 12 Mechanised Brigade (United Kingdom) based in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

3rd Battalion
The 3rd Battalion is an armoured infantry battalion, part of the 7th Armoured Brigade based in Bad Fallingbostel, Germany. It is set to be disbanded as part of the Army 2020 defence review.

4th Battalion
The 4th Battalion is the regiment reserve Territorial Army Light Role Infantry battalion.

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. Accordingly a slightly modified design featuring two colours of metal was adopted. 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
 * Collar badge: oak leaves and acorn from the Cheshire Regiment combined with the motto Firm from the Worcestershire Regiment
 * 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.
 * 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
 * Warrant officers' and NCO's rank badges: Black backing from Staffordshire Regiment.
 * Cap badge backing: A square Lincoln green cloth backing worn behind the cap badge on the beret, from the Sherwood Foresters
 * 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, for those who are extra-regimentally employed.
 * 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 antecendant Regiment's flashes, buff and cerise for the 1st and cerise and Lincoln green for the 2nd. The 3rd battalion has a black diamond with the Stafford knot and the 4th Battalion has a blue diamond with the Mercian Eagle on it.
 * Regimental Side Hat: black with buff inner crease and green piping and peak. The cap badge is in silver and gold wire embroidery.
 * Pullover: Buff, worn by officers and WOs, from the Cheshire Regiment.
 * Stable Belt: Buff, from the Cheshire Regiment, with a bronze locket bearing the cap badge in brass.

Mascot
"Lance Corporal Derby", a Swaledale ram is the regimental mascot, inherited from the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment.

History
The regiment has been deployed to Afghanistan where Sergeant Michael Lockett was awarded the Military Cross in 2007; he was killed in 2009. Recent casualties from this deployment have included Lance Corporal Jamie Webb from the 1st Battalion in March 2013; Captain Rupert Bowers (2nd Battalion) in March 2012; and Privates Matthew Haseldin (2nd Battalion) and Gareth Bellingham (3rd Battalion) in 2011. There were ten casualties in 2010, all from the 1st Battalion, and five including Lockett in 2009, all from the 2nd Battalion.

Alliances
All of the previous alliances of the three individual regiments were carried into the Mercian Regiment.
 * 🇦🇬 - Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force
 * 🇦🇺 - The Royal Victoria Regiment
 * 🇨🇦 – Royal 22e Régiment
 * 🇨🇦 - The Grey and Simcoe Foresters
 * 🇨🇦 - 2nd Battalion, The Nova Scotia Highlanders (Cape Breton)
 * 🇨🇦 - Le Régiment de Maisonneuve (through its alliance with the King's Shropshire Light Infantry - KSLI
 * 🇯🇲 - The Jamaica Regiment
 * 🇵🇰 - 13th Battalion, The Punjab Regiment
 * 🇵🇰 - 7th Battalion, The Baloch Regiment
 * - HMS Albion
 * - HMS Nottingham

Lineage
(Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment)]]'''
 * -style="text-align:center; background:#F08080;"
 * align="center" colspan="4"|Lineage
 * align="center" rowspan="10" | The Mercian Regiment
 * align="center" colspan="3" | The 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment
 * align="center" rowspan="4" | The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment (29th/45th Foot)
 * align="center" rowspan="2" | '''The Worcestershire Regiment
 * align="center" | The 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment
 * align="center" | The 36th (Herefordshire) Regiment
 * align="center" rowspan="2" | '''The [[The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment)|Sherwood Foresters
 * align="center" | The 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment
 * align="center" | The 36th (Herefordshire) Regiment
 * align="center" rowspan="2" | '''The [[The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment)|Sherwood Foresters
 * align="center" rowspan="2" | '''The [[The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment)|Sherwood Foresters
 * align="center" rowspan="2" | '''The [[The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment)|Sherwood Foresters
 * align="center" | The 45th (Nottinghamshire) Regiment
 * align="center" | '''The 95th (Derbyshire) Regiment
 * align="center" rowspan="4" | The Staffordshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales's)
 * align="center" rowspan="2" | '''The South Staffordshire Regiment
 * align="center"|The 38th (1st Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot
 * align = "center"|The 80th (Staffordshire Volunteers) Regiment of Foot
 * align="center" rowspan="2"| The North Staffordshire (Prince of Wales's) Regiment
 * align="center"|The 64th (2nd Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot
 * align="center"|The 98th (Prince of Wales's) Regiment of Foot
 * align="center" rowspan="2"| The North Staffordshire (Prince of Wales's) Regiment
 * align="center"|The 64th (2nd Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot
 * align="center"|The 98th (Prince of Wales's) Regiment of Foot
 * align="center"|The 98th (Prince of Wales's) Regiment of Foot
 * align="center"|The 98th (Prince of Wales's) Regiment of Foot