The 74th Engineer Regiment was a former Territorial Army regiment of the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is head ...

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

. Initially the 74th (Antrim Artillery) Engineer Regiment was a reserve engineer regiment, but was then disbanded in 1994. An independent squadron remained. As part of

Army 2020 Army 2020, was the name given to the restructuring of the British Army, in light of the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review. Background The British Government gave an indication of its proposals for the future structure of the Army in ea ...

the squadron moves to become part of the 71st Engineer Regiment.

History

The 74th (Antrim Artillery) Engineer Regiment was formed in 1967 in the dramatic reduction and reorganisation of the Territorial Army. It originally was created by the merger of two existing units: 146 (Antrim Artillery) Corps Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers and 591 ( Antrim) Independent Field Squadron. Its first headquarters till its disbandment was at

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

. The regiment was assigned to the

8th Engineer Brigade 8th Engineer Brigade (8 Eng Bde) is an engineering support formation of the British Army, which forms part of 1st (United Kingdom) Division. History In August 2001, Headquarters Royal Engineers, Theatre Troops was established as a subdivision o ...

the majority of its history from 1967 - 1992. In 1994 the regiment was disbanded, but a single squadron remained, becoming the 74 Independent Field Squadron (V), later 591 Independent Squadron at Bangor. Today the regiment has its traditions carried on by 591 (

Antrim Artillery The Antrim Artillery was a part-time reserve unit of Britain's Royal Artillery based in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, from 1853 to 1919. It numbered 1st on the order of precedence of the Militia Artillery. Volunteers from the unit served in the ...

) Field Squadron which is still headquartered at Bangor. As part of

the squadron is planned to join the 71st (Northern) Reserve Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers, remaining at the same location.

Organization

The regiment's structure changed very little but did have a few changes. The structure just before the disbandment is:{{Cite web, url=http://www.remuseum.org.uk/corpshistory/rem_corps_part11.htm#1945, title=Royal Engineers Museum - Militia, Volunteers, and Territorials, website=www.remuseum.org, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081030000532/http://www.remuseum.org.uk/corpshistory/rem_corps_part11.htm#1945, archive-date=2008-10-30 * Headquarters Squadron * 112 ( Antrim Fortress) Field Squadron * 114 (Antrim Artillery) Field Squadron * 272 ( West Riding) Field Squadron At some time the regiment also controlled the following units: * 591 Field Squadron *

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from ga, an Baile Meánach , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is part of the Borough of Mid and East Antrim. The town is built on land given to the Adair family by King Charles I i ...

Troop * Bangor Troop *

Carrickfergus Carrickfergus ( , meaning " Fergus' rock") is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,998 at the 2011 Census. It is County Antrim's oldest ...

Troop * Antrim Troop * Regimental Pipes and Drums, 74th Engineer Regiment

References

Regiments of the Royal Engineers