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The Staffordshire Regiment traces its roots to the formation of a Regiment of Foot at Lichfield in 1705 and was unique among all of Britain’s Infantry regiments in its continuous identity with a single County. A direct link with Staffordshire was established in 1782, when the 38th Foot received the additional title of 1st Staffordshire Regiment and the 64th Foot of 2nd Staffordshire Regiment.
History of The Regiment

The South and North Staffordshire Regiments were created out of four of the old numbered regiments, which for the South included the 80th Staffordshire Volunteers, in 1881. From that period too, the old County militias and volunteers were linked directly with their Regular Army counterparts. These links were regularised further by the formation of the Territorial Force in 1908, by which year both South and North Staffords each had six battalions: two Regular, two Militia and two Territorial.

Vast expansion took place in both World Wars, but reductions after 1945 saw each of the County Regiments reduced to one Regular Battalion and one Territorial. In 1959 the South and North were amalgamated to form the Staffordshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales’s). The Territorials survived a little longer (1968). On 1 September 2007 the Staffordshire Regiment merged with the 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment, the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment, and the Territorials of the West Midlands Regiment to become a four-battalion Mercian Regiment. The traditions and ethos of the Staffords were carried forward into the Mercian Regiment under the proud motto: Stand Firm, Strike Hard.

The Staffordshire Regiment Tree

In 2014 the 3rd Battalion of The Mercian Regiment was amalgamated with the 1st and 2nd Battalions. Following this, the remaining Battalions adopted a new official title, which was approved by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to: x Battalion, The Mercian Regiment (Cheshires, Worcesters and Foresters, and Staffords).