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.

The Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry
Cap badge of the Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry
Active	November 1992-April 2014
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Yeomanry
Role	Armour Replacement
Size	One regiment
Part of	Royal Armoured Corps
Garrison/HQ	RHQ - Telford A Squadron - Dudley B Squadron - Telford C Squadron - Chester D Squadron - Wigan H-Detachment - Hereford
Commanders
Colonel-in-Chief	HM The Queen
Honorary Colonel	Major General The Duke of Westminster KG OBE TD DL
Insignia
Tactical Recognition Flash

History

The regiment was formed in November 1992 by the amalgamation of The Queen's Own Mercian Yeomanry and The Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry as part of the Options for Change. In 1999, it absorbed a squadron from The Queen's Own Yeomanry, bringing it to a strength of four squadrons plus the headquarters squadron.[1]

In October 2006, the RMLY became a single cap badge regiment, when the individual cap badges of each squadron were replaced by the newly designed RMLY cap badge. This incorporated the Mercian Eagle from the Queen's Own Mercian Yeomanry with the Red Rose from the Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry. This was also the point at which H-Det joined the regiment, to provide a Recce troop. H-Detachment was renamed Manoeuvre and Support Squadron in 2011, when it was given Squadron status; it still consisted of the Recce troop, but now also housed the "hoop" (communications for the squadron).[2]

In July 2013, it was announced that the RMLY would be restructured under the Army 2020 plan. A Squadron and B Squadron resubordinated to The Royal Yeomanry, while C Squadron and D Squadron resubordinated to The Queen's Own Yeomanry.[3] The regiment was disbanded in April 2014.[4]

Organisation

The RMLY consisted of a Recce Troop, a Command Troop (within the detachment based in Hereford) and four sabre squadrons. Each of the sabre squadrons perpetuates a historic Yeomanry regiment, which is reflected in their subtitles:[5]

• A (Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire Yeomanry) Squadron
• B (Shropshire Yeomanry) Squadron
• C (Cheshire Yeomanry) Squadron
• D (Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry) Squadron
• Manoeuvre and Support Squadron (Hereford) - The Herefordshire (Light Infantry) Squadron

Lineage

Order of precedence

For the purposes of parading, the Regiments of the British Army are listed according to an order of precedence. This is the order in which the various corps of the army parade, from right to left, with the unit at the extreme right being the most senior.

References

1. The Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry, regiments.org Archived September 9, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
2. "Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry". Queen's Own Warwickshire and Worcestershire Yeomanry Association. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 5 November 2017.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
3. "Army 2020 Report" (PDF). Ministry of Defence. p. 9. Retrieved 5 November 2017.
4. "Royal and Mercian Lancastrian Yeomanry march in Shrewsbury parade". BBC. 27 April 2014. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
5. "Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry". British Army units 1945 on. Retrieved 29 October 2017.

External links

• Official site