The Queen's Own Mercian Yeomanry was a cavalry regiment of the Territorial Army, formed in 1971 by the reconstitution of squadrons from the Queen's Own Warwickshire and Worcestershire Yeomanry, the

Staffordshire Yeomanry The Staffordshire Yeomanry (Queen's Own Royal Regiment) was a mounted auxiliary unit of the British Army raised in 1794 to defend Great Britain from foreign invasion. It continued in service after the Napoleonic Wars, frequently being called out ...

and the

Shropshire Yeomanry The Shropshire Yeomanry was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1795, which served as a cavalry and dismounted infantry regiment in the First World War and as a cavalry and an artillery regiment in the Second World War. It w ...

. It amalgamated into the

Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry The Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry was a yeomanry regiment of the United Kingdom's Territorial Army. It served in the armoured replacement role, providing replacement tank crews for regular armoured regiments. History The regiment was for ...

in 1992.

History

The regiment was created as The Mercian Yeomanry, the Territorial Army's fourth

yeomanry Yeomanry is a designation used by a number of units and sub-units in the British Army Reserve which are descended from volunteer cavalry regiments that now serve in a variety of different roles. History Origins In the 1790s, following the ...

regiment, with three squadrons in 1971. It adopted the title of The Queen's Own Mercian Yeomanry in 1973, and in 1982 converted to a light

formation reconnaissance regiment The Formation Reconnaissance Regiment (Fmn Recce) is a fighting unit provided by the Royal Armoured Corps or Household Cavalry Regiment, Household Cavalry. Formation reconnaissance regiments are intended to provide Armoured Reconnaissance for a ...

, intended for home defence, and equipped with Land Rovers. In 1988, it absorbed a fourth squadron from the

Royal Army Ordnance Corps The Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) was a corps of the British Army. At its renaming as a Royal Corps in 1918 it was both a supply and repair corps. In the supply area it had responsibility for weapons, armoured vehicles and other military equi ...

which became part of the Home Service Force. In 1992, following the

Options for Change Options for Change was a restructuring of the British Armed Forces in summer 1990 after the end of the Cold War. Until this point, UK military strategy had been almost entirely focused on defending Western Europe against the Soviet Armed Forces ...

reductions in the Army, it amalgamated with The

Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry The Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry (DLOY) was a yeomanry unit of the British Army from 1798 to 1992. Originally raised as part-time cavalry for home defence and internal security, the regiment sent mounted infantry to serve in the Second Boer ...

to form the

Organisation

The regiment had three reconnaissance squadrons and a regimental headquarters: *A ( Warwickshire and Worcestershire Yeomanry) Squadron *B (

) Squadron *C (

) Squadron *The regimental headquarters is based at Dawley Bank in

Telford Telford () is a town in the Telford and Wrekin borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Shropshire, England. The wider borough covers the town, its suburbs and surrounding towns and villages. The town is close to the county's eastern b ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

References

Bibliography

* {{cite book , last = Mileham , first = Patrick , year = 1994 , title = The Yeomanry Regiments; 200 Years of Tradition , publisher = Canongate Academic , location = Edinburgh , isbn = 1-898410-36-4 Yeomanry regiments of the British Army Military units and formations established in 1971 Military units and formations disestablished in 1992