The Regular Infantry of the British Army

Options for change: 1992 to 1994

Options for Change was a restructuring of the British Armed Forces in 1990, aimed at cutting defence spending following the end of the Cold War. In the Infantry this led to a reduction by several battalions and the amalgamations shown below.

Titles in 1992			Titles of the merged Regiments

The Grenadier Guards	⇉	1994: 2^nd Bⁿ reduced to Nijmegen Company
The Coldstream Guards	⇉	1993: 2^nd Bⁿ reduced to N^o 7 Company
The Scots Guards	⇉	1993: 2^nd Bⁿ reduced to F Company
The Irish Guards	→
The Welsh Guards	→
The Royal Scots	→
The Queen’s Regiment	⇶	1992: merged into	The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment ¹
The King’s Own Royal Border Regiment	→
The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers	⇶	1992: 3^rd Bⁿ disbanded
The King’s Regiment	→
The Royal Anglian Regiment	⇶	1992: 3^rd Bⁿ disbanded
The Devonshire and Dorset Regiment	→
The Light Infantry	⇶	1993: 1^st Bⁿ disbanded; 2^nd Bⁿ becomes 1^st Bⁿ; 3^rd Bⁿ becomes 2^nd Bⁿ
The Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment of Yorkshire	→
The Green Howards	→
The Royal Highland Fusiliers	→
The Cheshire Regiment	→
The Royal Welch Fusiliers	→
The Royal Regiment of Wales	→
The King’s Own Scottish Borderers	→
The Royal Irish Rangers	⇉	1992: merged into	The Royal Irish Regiment; 1993: 1^st Bⁿ and 2^nd Bⁿ merged
The Gloucestershire Regiment	→	1994: merged into	The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment
The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment	→
The Queen’s Lancashire Regiment	→
The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment	→
The Royal Hampshire Regiment	→	1992: merged into	The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment ¹
The Staffordshire Regiment	→
The Black Watch	→
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Royal Regiment	→	1994: merged into	The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment
The Queen’s Own Highlanders	→	1994: merged into	The Highlanders
The Gordon Highlanders	→	1994: merged into	The Highlanders
The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders	→
The Parachute Regiment	⇶
2^nd King Edward VII’s Own Gurkha Rifles	→	1994: merged into	1^st Bⁿ, The Royal Gurkha Rifles
6^th Queen Elizabeth’s Own Gurkha Rifles	→	1994: merged into	1^st Bⁿ, The Royal Gurkha Rifles
7^th Duke of Edinburgh’s Gurkha Rifles	→	1994: becomes:	2^nd Bⁿ, The Royal Gurkha Rifles
10^th Princess Mary’s Own Gurkha Rifles	→	1994: becomes:	3^rd Bⁿ, The Royal Gurkha Rifles
The Royal Green Jackets	⇶	1992: 1^st Bⁿ disbanded; 2^nd Bⁿ becomes 1^st Bⁿ; 3^rd Bⁿ becomes 2^nd Bⁿ
22^nd Special Air Service Regiment	→
The Gibraltar Regiment	→
The Ulster Defence Regiment	➡	1992: merged into	The Royal Irish Regiment
¹ the three battalions of The Queen’s Regiment and the one battalion of The Royal Hampshire Regiment formed two battalions

The Regiments in 1995

Changes from 2003 to 2007

The Regiments in 2008

The Regiments in 2023

Alphabetic List of the Regiments