3 Mercian history

Lt George Cairns VC, 1st South Staffords wins a Victoria Cross on Pagoda Hill, Burma, 1944

3 Mercian was formed on 1 September 2007 from the 1st Battalion, The Staffordshire Regiment.

The first of the regiments to form the Staffords was raised in 1705 by Colonel Lillingston in Lichfield, which later became the 38th Regiment of Foot.

The history of the regiments that formed 3 Mercian is firmly rooted in Staffordshire and the West Midlands.

Read more about our antecedent regiments

 The raising of the 38th (South Staffordshire) Regiment
 The raising of the 64th (2nd Staffordshire) Regiment
 The county connection
 The raising of the 80th (Staffordshire Volunteers) Regiment
 The raising of the 98th (Prince of Wales's) Regiment
The Staffordshire Regiment - Early history
 The Staffordshire Regiment - World War I - World War II
 The Staffordshire Regiment - Post-war
 The 19th century
 The Crimean War
 The Persian War and Indian Mutiny
 The Cardwell Reforms
 Egypt and the Sudan
 South African War
 The Territorials
 The Great War
 1919 - 1939
 The Second World War
 1945 - 1959
 1959 - 1990
 The Gulf War
 Hong Kong
 Belfast
 Cyprus
 Kosovo
 Iraq 2005 - 2006

 Iraq 2006 - 2007