The Prince of Wales's Division was a British Army command, training and administrative apparatus designated for all land force units in the West of England and Wales. It merged with the Scottish Division, to form the Scottish, Welsh and Irish Division; at the same time the Mercian Regiment joined with the King's Division.

History

The Prince of Wales's Division was formed in 1968 with the union of the

Mercian Brigade The Mercian Brigade was an administrative formation of the British Army from 1948 to 1964. The Brigade administered the infantry regiments from the area of England between the Trent, Mersey and Severn rivers that roughly corresponded to the ancient ...

Welsh Brigade The Welsh Brigade was an administrative formation of the British Army from 1948 to 1964. The Brigade administered the regular Welsh infantry regiments. After the Second World War the British Army had fourteen infantry depots, each bearing a letter. ...

and

Wessex Brigade The Wessex Brigade was an administrative formation of the British Army from 1948 to 1968. The Brigade administered the regular infantry regiments of the Wessex area of south and south west England. After the Second World War the British Army had f ...

. The depot was established at

Whittington Barracks DMS Whittington, otherwise known as Defence Medical Services Whittington (formerly Whittington Barracks), is a military base in Whittington, Staffordshire, near Lichfield in England. It is home to the Staffordshire Regiment Museum, the Headquarte ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. Under the restructuring announced in 2004, the Prince of Wales's Division lost the remaining

Westcountry The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Gloucesters ...

infantry regiments and was reorganised into two large regiments: * Royal Welsh - formed on 1 March 2006 by amalgamation of the 1st Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers, 1st Battalion, Royal Regiment of Wales (24th/41st Foot) and the

Royal Welsh Regiment The Royal Welsh Regiment was an infantry regiment of the Territorial Army in the United Kingdom. It existed from 1999, until it was re-designated as the 3rd Battalion, The Royal Welsh in 2006. History The regiment was formed in 1999 as part of th ...

. * Mercian Regiment - formed on 1 September 2007 by amalgamation of the 1st Battalion,

22nd (Cheshire) Regiment The Cheshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division. The 22nd Regiment of Foot was raised by the Duke of Norfolk in 1689 and was able to boast an independent existence of over 300 years. Th ...

, 1st Battalion, Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment (29th/45th Foot), 1st Battalion, Staffordshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales's) and the West Midlands Regiment. In 2014 the Royal Irish Regiment joined the division. The Division comprised the following infantry battalions: *Regular Army Units **1st (Cheshire) Battalion,

The Mercian Regiment The Mercian Regiment (Cheshire, Worcesters and Foresters, and Staffords) is an infantry regiment of the British Army, which is recruited from five of the counties that formed the ancient kingdom of Mercia. Known as 'The Heart of England's Infant ...

**2nd (Worcestershire and Sherwood) Battalion,

**1st (Royal Welsh Fusiliers) Battalion, the Royal Welsh **1st Battalion, the Royal Irish Regiment *Army Reserve Units **4th Battalion, the Mercian Regiment **3rd Battalion, the Royal Welsh **2nd Battalion, the Royal Irish Regiment The Division maintained a regular army band, The Band of The Prince of Wales Division through the amalgamation of the two former divisional bands, the Clive Band and the Lucknow Band. Under the Army 2020 reorganisation, the 3rd Battalion, Mercian Regiment (Staffords) and the 2nd Battalion, Royal Welsh (Royal Regiment of Wales) will both be disbanded, while the Royal Irish Regiment (27th (Inniskilling), 83rd, 87th and Ulster Defence Regiment) will be transferred to the administration of the Prince of Wales' Division. In December 2016, the government announced changes to the administrative structure of the infantry as part of the continuing reorganization of the Army under "Army 2020". This saw the Mercian Regiment being moved to the King's Division, with the Royal Regiment of Scotland (which encompassed the entirety of the Scottish Division) transferred to a single administrative formation with the Royal Welsh and the Royal Irish Regiment. This new administrative formation became known as the Scottish, Welsh and Irish Division.

Past Units

Past units include:Whitaker's Almanack 1969 *1st Battalion, The 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment - (1688-2007) *1st Battalion,

The Royal Welch Fusiliers The Royal Welch Fusiliers ( cy, Ffiwsilwyr Brenhinol Cymreig) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, and part of the Prince of Wales' Division, that was founded in 1689; shortly after the Glorious Revolution. In 1702, it was designated ...

- (1689-2006) *1st Battalion,

The South Wales Borderers The South Wales Borderers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for 280 years. It came into existence in England in 1689, as Sir Edward Dering's Regiment of Foot, and afterwards had a variety of names and headquarters. I ...

- (1689-1969) *1st Battalion,

The Gloucestershire Regiment The Gloucestershire Regiment, commonly referred to as the Glosters, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 until 1994. It traced its origins to Colonel Gibson's Regiment of Foot, which was raised in 1694 and later became the ...

- (1881-1994) *1st Battalion,

The Worcestershire Regiment The Worcestershire Regiment was a line infantry regiment in the British Army, formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot and the 36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot. The regime ...

- (1881-1970) *1st Battalion,

The Royal Hampshire Regiment The Hampshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot and the 67th (South Hampshire) Regiment of Foot. The regim ...

- (1881-1992) *1st Battalion,

The Welch Regiment The Welch Regiment (or "The Welch", an archaic spelling of "Welsh") was an infantry regiment of the line of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1969. The regiment was created in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of ...

- (1881-1969) *1st Battalion,

The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for just under 90 years, from 1881 to 1970. In 1970, the regiment was amalgamated with the Worcestershire Regiment to f ...

- (1881-1970) *1st Battalion,

The Devonshire and Dorset Regiment The Devonshire and Dorset Regiment (11th, 39th and 54th), usually just known as the Devon and Dorsets, was an infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1958 by the amalgamation of two county regiments, the Devonshire Regiment and the Dorset ...

- (1958-2005) *1st Battalion, The Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment (Berkshire and Wiltshire) - (1959-1994) *1st Battalion,

The Staffordshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales's) The Staffordshire Regiment (Prince of Wales') (or simply "Staffords" for short) was an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division. The regiment was formed in 1959 by the amalgamation of the South Staffordshire R ...

- (1959-2007) *1st Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Wales (24th/41st Foot) - (1969-2006) *1st Battalion, The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment (29th/45th Foot) - (1970-2007) *1st Battalion,

The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment was a short-lived infantry regiment of the British Army. History The regiment was formed in 1994 by the amalgamation of the Gloucestershire Regiment and the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Re ...

- (1994-2005) *2nd Battalion,

The Royal Welsh The Royal Welsh (R WELSH) ( cy, Y Cymry Brenhinol) is an armoured infantry regiment of the British Army. It was established in 2006 from the Royal Welch Fusiliers (23rd Foot) and the Royal Regiment of Wales (24th/41st Foot). History The ...

- (2006-2014) *3rd Battalion,

- (2007-2014)

References

Sources

External links

Prince of Wales's Division

{{British Army Divisions Infantry divisions of the United Kingdom Military units and formations established in 1968 Mercian Regiment Royal Welsh