Queen's Lancashire Regiment

The Queen's Lancashire Regiment (30th, 40th, 47th, 59th, 81st and 82nd Regiments of Foot) (QLR) was an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the King's Division. It was formed on 25 March 1970 at Connaught Barracks in Dover through the amalgamation of the two remaining Lancashire infantry regiments, the Lancashire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Volunteers) and the Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire). In July 2006 the regiment was amalgamated with two other Northern infantry regiments to form the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment.

History

The 1st Battalion served on operations in Northern Ireland in 1970, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1975–76 (resident), 1977, 1980–81, 1987, 1990–92, 1997–99 (resident) and 2001.

The 1st Battalion undertook two tours with BAOR in the mechanised role. The first of which was with 12 Mechanised Brigade in Osnabrück from 1970 to 1974. The second was with 33 Armoured Brigade in Paderborn from 1984 to 1990. The 1st Battalion also had the honour of being the last British battalion to serve in Berlin prior to the final withdrawal in 1994.

Overseas service saw the 1st Battalion posted to Cyprus from 1978 to 1980 as the Western Sovereign Base Area Resident Battalion, and again in 1983, where they saw service with the United Nations. A company was dispatched to the Falkland Islands in the aftermath of the 1982 war. The 1st Battalion returned to Cyprus as the Eastern Sovereign Base Area Resident Battalion from 2004 to 2005.

In 1996 the 1st Battalion served as part of IFOR in Bosnia operating in the area known as "The Anvil".

The regiment's 1st Battalion saw service in Iraq in the months immediately following Operation Telic, from June to November 2003. Given responsibility for Iraq's second city, Basra, it gained much praise for its efforts to restore security and civil order.

On 16 December 2004, it was announced that the Queen's Lancashire Regiment would be merged with the King's Regiment and the King's Own Royal Border Regiment into the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's Lancashire and Border). On 1 July 2006, the 1st Battalion, Queen's Lancashire Regiment became the 1st Battalion, Duke of Lancaster's Regiment.

Territorials

As well as the regular 1st Battalion, the regiment also had a Territorial Army 4th Battalion, which was formed on 1 April 1975, with headquarters at Kimberley Barracks, Preston and companies at various times in Ashton-under-Lyne, Blackburn, Blackpool, Bolton, Burnley and Bury. As part of the Strategic Defence Review, the 4th Battalion merged with the 4th Battalion the King's Own Royal Border Regiment to create the Lancastrian and Cumbrian Volunteers in July 1999.

Abuses In Iraq

Some months after returning from Iraq the battalion was at the centre of the first serious accusations of abuse against Iraqi prisoners levelled at British soldiers. These accusations were illustrated on the front pages of the ''Daily Mirror'' by photographs which the regiment immediately denounced as staged fakes. The regiment then ran a successful campaign, believed to be unique for an active unit of the British Armed Forces, to prove that the pictures were false. After two weeks, the ''Mirror'' was forced to admit that it had found "sufficient evidence to suggest that these pictures are fakes and that the Daily Mirror has been the subject of a calculated and malicious hoax." Editor Piers Morgan was forced to resign when he refused to apologise.

There has however been at least one case of true abuse; Corporal Donald Payne became Britain's first convicted war criminal after pleading guilty to abusing Iraqi detainees, which resulted in the death of one detainee Baha Mousa. Six other soldiers were cleared of any wrongdoing. The presiding judge, Mr Justice McKinnon, stated that "none of those soldiers has been charged with any offence, simply because there is no evidence against them as a result of a more or less obvious closing of ranks." The report from a 2011 inquiry into the killing stated that 19 soldiers had assaulted Mousa and nine other Iraqi detainees and that many other soldiers, including officers, must have known what was happening.

On 19 July 2005, Attorney General Lord Goldsmith announced that Payne was being charged with manslaughter, perverting the course of justice and inhumane treatment of persons under the International Criminal Court Act 2001. On the same day, another ten soldiers were also charged with similar crimes, six relating to the death of Mousa and four relating to the death of another Iraqi, Ahmed Jabber Kareem Ali, on 8 May 2003.

The court martial was held in Bulford Camp, Wiltshire, after an investigation by the Royal Military Police. It convened in the autumn of 2006, and concluded six months later in April 2007, being the most expensive Court Martial in modern British military history

During the court martial, Corporal Payne admitted he "enjoyed" hearing Iraqis call out during torture, describing their cries of pain as "the choir". He was cleared of manslaughter and perverting the course of justice. Six other soldiers were cleared of any charges.

After earlier pleading guilty to the offence of inhuman treatment of persons protected under the Geneva Conventions, Corporal Donald Payne was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, reduced to the ranks, and dismissed from Her Majesty's Armed Forces, on 30 April 2007.

Regimental museum

The Lancashire Infantry Museum is based at Fulwood Barracks in Preston.

Battle honours

The Queen's Lancashire Regiment's battle honours were as follows:
* ''Pre-War'':
** Gibraltar 1704-5, Louisberg, Quebec 1759, Belleisle, Martinique 1762, Havannah, St Lucia 1778, Cape of Good Hope 1806, Maida, Monte Video, Rolica. Vimiera, Corunna, Talavera, Java, Tarifa, Badajoz, Salamanca, Vittoria, St Sebastian, Pyrenees, Nivelle, Nive, Orthes, Toulouse, Peninsula, Niagara, Waterloo, Ava, Bhurtpore, Candahar 1842, Ghuznee 1842, Cabool 1842, Maharajpore, Alma, Inkerman, Sevastopol, Lucknow, Canton, New Zealand, Ali Masjib, Ahmed Khel, Afghanistan 1878–80, Chitral, Siege of Kimberley, Relief of Ladysmith, South Africa 1899–02.
* ''The Great War 1914–18'':
** Mons, Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, 18, Aisne 1914

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