title: Light Infantry and Mercian Volunteers
text: # Light Infantry and Mercian Volunteers
  
  The Light Infantry and Mercian Volunteers was a short-lived infantry regiment of the British Army, in existence from 1971 to 1975.
  
  ## History
  
  The battalion was formed on the 1 April 1971, from the cadres of former Midland infantry battalions that had been reduced as a result of the 1966 Defence White Paper and formation of the much smaller TAVR. Its initial structure was:
  
  * Headquarters, at Wolseley House, Wolverhampton
  * A (Worcestershire Regiment) Company, at Worcester (from 7th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment)
  * B (5th/6th Battalion Staffordshire Regiment) Company, at Stoke-on-Trent (from 5th/6th Battalion, Staffordshire Regiment)
  * C (King's Shropshire Light Infantry) Company, at Wellington (from 4th Battalion, King's Shropshire Light Infantry)
  * D (Herefordshire Light Infantry) Company, at Ross-on-Wye (from 1st Battalion, Herefordshire Light Infantry)
  * E Company, at Whittimere Street Drill Hall, Walsall (newly raised)
  
  Only four years later, however, the regiment was broken up and the companies were distributed amongst other battalions. Namely: A, B, and E Companies to the 2nd Battalion, Mercian Volunteers as A, B, and D Companies respectively; C Company to 5th Battalion, The Light Infantry, as E Company; and D Company to 6th Battalion, The Light Infantry, with the same lettering.
  
  ## Deputy Honorary Colonels
  
  The regiment didn't have an Honorary Colonel as a whole, however from 1971–1972 each company maintained their own Deputy Honorary Colonel, in succession to the previous unit. These were:
  
  * A Company: Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander W.R.H. Pettigrew, OBE, TD
  * B Company: Colonel Charles J. Baines, CBE, MC, TD, DL
  * C & D Companies: Lieutenant-Colonel Guy M. Thorneycroft, DL
  