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The Volunteers Take Shape

In 1853 a Militia officer, Captain Thomas James Thackeray of the 2nd Somerset Regiment of Militia delivered a series of lectures at the Guildhall in Bath. These were published by Parker, Furnivall, & Parker of the Military Library, Whitehall and dedicated to Lord Palmerston, at that time Home Secretary. The book was entitled THREE LECTURES DELIVERED AT THE GUILDHALL, BATH ON THE PRACTICE OF RIFLE FIRING AT VARIOUS DISTANCES (Riling 640). There are only 43 pages and five plates but this is an important work in that Thackeray is addressing directly the ordinary citizen concerned with the defence of his home against the threat of foreign invasion. The lectures encompass in simple form the theory of ballistics, judging distance and simple tactics. These echo the methods of training being established by Colonel Hay at the School of Musketry, Hythe, just then being brought into existence, although it did not open officially until the following year. Thackeray expanded this work into THE SOLDIER’S MANUAL OF RIFLE FIRING, AT VARIOUS DISTANCES (Riling 704) which he produced in 1858.

The Volunteer Rifleman and the Rifle

Left: John Boucher's ideas for the uniform of Volunteers - 1853

1853 also saw the first of what became a positive stream, or perhaps river would be a better description, of output from the pen of John Boucher, of Surrey Villas, Camberwell. Boucher, an ex-officer of the 5th Dragoon Guards, was a compulsive writer, designer and later Captain of the First Company of the Surrey Rifle Volunteers. His name will crop up in the areas of books, rifle design and later in virtually every edition of the weekly VOLUNTEER SERVICES GAZETTE from its first appearance in October 1859. It is the opinion of a number of specialists working in the late 20th Century that John Boucher was basically unsound in his theories but should be given ten marks for sheer persistence and verbosity. His 1853 work was THE VOLUNTEER RIFLEMAN AND THE RIFLE (Riling 631). The first edition deals soundly enough with drill, training, ballistic theory, dress and even such esoteric arts as bullet casting (Second edition above). His A TREATISE ON RIFLE PROJECTILES: &c., &c., (Riling 669) of 1856 dealt with a variety of subjects and is a catalogue of condemnation of virtually every new principle. He especially dislikes the Minie which he describes as a “fallacy” and a “delusion”. Nevertheless, Boucher’s voice will continue to be heard for a great many years and gunmakers such as F. T. Baker made rifles to his design.

The Rifle MusketThe arrival on the scene of the new Rifle-Musket Pattern 1853 was greeted with enthusiasm and although supplies of it did not reach the Army in the Crimea until 1855, its comparative qualities were being widely discussed in 1854. Captain Jervis-White Jervis, R.A., wrote THE RIFLE-MUSKET: A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE ENFIELD PRITCHETT RIFLE, RECENTLY ADOPTED IN THE BRITISH SERVICE (Riling 649). This valuable work not only describes the rifle but goes at length into its manufacture with pictures of the barrel rolling and rifling machines. The work went into a Second Edition in 1859 but the First Edition has been reprinted (right) in facsimile in both 1984 and 1993.

The Second Edition was extensively modified and lengthened to accommodate the numerous changes which practical experience had forced upon the Enfield. Another little book to greet the Enfield in 1855 was the now extremely rare A COMPANION TO THE NEW RIFLE MUSKET COMPRISING INFORMATION ON THE CLEANING AND MANAGEMENT OF ARMS, AND ON THE MAKING OF CARTRIDGES. This is not in Riling. It includes numerous plates of the parts of the Enfield enhanced by colour tinting. Although the author was anonymous, he later produced an 1859 edition, presumably to cater for the new Volunteer demand. The new edition discloses his name, S. Bertram Browne, formerly First Class Instructor of Musketry of Hythe and author of THE ILLUSTRATED POSITION DRILL. The tinted plates are replaced in the 2nd edition by shaded ones as tinting was an expensive hand operation.

The Assistant Commandant and Chief Instructor at the Hythe School of Musketry, Colonel E. C. Wilford, was another whose duties involved him in lecturing to numerous audiences. His lecture of 10th July 1859 to the United Services Institution is the first of THREE LECTURES UPON THE RIFLE (Riling 750) published in 1859 by John W. Parker and Son, West Strand. The second lecture in the book is that of 28th May 1859 to the same audience and the final lecture was that given to one of the early Volunteer training courses at Hythe on 1st November. Leaders of the movement towards the creation of the Volunteers had taken the Hythe Course in July and August 1859 and it was then that a group of them decided to establish the National Rifle Association. These LECTURES are very well written and readable and would have provided excellent source material for Volunteer Officers lecturing to their own troops. The book is attractively but inexpensively bound in blue cloth laid down upon thin board, embossed and gilt, but with simple cut edges. This was a common binding method for cheap books during the mid 19th Century.

Rifle AmmunitionFor those whose interest lay in the technicalities of the weapons and ammunition (and today’s gun collectors), these books must have been fascinating and one other must be mentioned in this connection. RIFLE AMMUNITION, BEING NOTES ON THE MANUFACTURES CONNECTED THEREWITH AS CONDUCTED IN THE ROYAL ARSENAL, WOOLWICH (Riling 718) by Captain Arthur B. Hawes, a retired half pay officer of the Bengal Army, was published in July 1859. This is probably the best account there is of the processes involved in the manufacture of the paper cartridge for the Pattern 1853 Enfield Rifle in its developed form. The book appeared with the approval of Boxer, and was intended for the use of the Army of India, but the War Office considered it to be so good that it requested Hawes to proceed by giving him an order for 200 copies for the Army generally in addition to those he could sell privately. This is an excellent Treatise and covers every aspect of the cartridge from the manufacture of the paper to the making of the barrels to store it in. It is impossible in this article to describe the contents in detail but the main headings are The Bullet, The Plug, The Cartridge, Metallic Tubes (for storage in damp conditions), Lubrication, The Cap, Ammunition Barrels, Rifle-Practice Targets, Experimental Targets, Mantelets, Rifle Rests, The Micrometer, Penetration of Rifle Bullets, Experimental Practice and The Vernier. There are 95 pages and 15 illustrations of which three are large folding plates stored in a pocket in the binding. Anderson’s machinery for swaging bullets from lead wire as well as that for extruding the wire is described in detail. Other machinery described includes the automatic lathe for making the box wood plugs (this is prior to the baked clay plug) and those for filling and lubricating. The new blank cartridge was especially noted. Prior to this period, blanks were very simple tubes of paper which did not give the soldier any practice in the technique of loading live rounds. The new blank was a facsimile of the ball cartridge which used a dummy bullet of papier-mache filled with powder. The soldier could now go through the exact loading procedure for the Enfield on every occasion. Hawes’ work is essential for any one studying the Enfield Cartridge and would have been popular with the technically minded Volunteer.

The Enfield cartridge from Hawe’s RIFLE AMMUNITION showing
the internal construction of both the ball and new blank rounds.
The lubrication can be seen as well as the band of purple paper round the blank to differentiate it - 1859

William H. Russell, the famous TIMES Special Correspondent, whose reports of the maladministration from the Crimea had such great influence on military reorganisation, brought his considerable powers of expression to bear in RIFLE CLUBS AND VOLUNTEER CORPS (Riling 724) which was published in 1859 by Routledge, Warne, and Routledge, London and New York. In his Preface to the book he closes by stating: “National instincts seldom err. We feel the danger in the air, and he is a fool who does not prepare for its coming.” Russell cites the dangers to our extended and wealthy coast line and its numerous ports and seaside towns from sudden raids by fast steam vessels carrying small bodies of troops that could land and wreak havoc before the central military authorities had time to react. He backs his assertion of the need for local volunteers by detailing cases where British ships during the Crimean Campaign had gone aground and been captured by small parties of Cossack Riflemen and Light Field Artillery before their crews had the time to get them off. Russell does not claim to be an expert in the subject of the rifle but he recommends his readers to the work of Hans Busk.