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Volunteer Infantry
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Volunteer Infantry, 1859-1908
During the late 1850's there was growing apprehension as to the prospects of French invasion of Great Britain. Indeed, following the attempt on Napoleon III's life by Felice Orsini on 14 January 1858, some French officers actually called for an invasion when it was discovered that Orsini manufactured his bomb in England. Newspapers, particularly The Times, continued to fuel the debate as to the formation of a Volunteer Force for home defence.

Competitive Shooting

The initial immediate rush of Volunteering was not expected to last. However, measures to secure the long-term prospects for the Volunteers were put in place late in 1859 with the formation of the National Rifle Association (NRA), its aims including "the encouragement of Volunteer Rifle Corps and the promotion of rifle shooting throughout Great Britain." The NRA held their first rifle meeting on Wimbledon common in 1860 and with royal patronage and the daily papers and weekly-illustrated journals reporting widely on events, the 'Wimbledon fortnight' was marked for success. Local and regional rifle matches become commonplace and by the end of the decade of the 1860's Great Britain, with no prior tradition for rifle marksmanship, had thousands of trained riflemen.

On 12 May 1859 the Government issued a circular sanctioning the formation of Volunteer Corps. The date on which the first company of Volunteers was formed within a county determined the county precedence. In 1881 the British Army was reorganised into territorial regiments with regular, militia and volunteer battalians.

The British Volunteer System - A brief history written by the former Under-Secretary of State For War, the Rt. Hon. Earl Brownlow and published in 1900.

Drill, Small Arms & Musketry Instruction
Great Volunteer reviews before large crowds of spectators, and sometimes royalty, were held throughout the country where the men demonstrated their skill at drill and skirmishing.

The original arm of the Volunteers was the muzzle loading Enfield rifle. In September 1870 this was replaced by the Snider, a breech loading conversion of the Enfield. The adoption of the Martini-Henry breech loading rifle by the Volunteers was commenced in 1879 but not completed until 1885. The issue of the Lee-Metford magazine rifle was authorised in 1895.

Volunteers carried out much of their competitive shooting at Wimbledon and other ranges using the service arm of issue, however there were all-comers matches where the rifles used became more specialised. The muzzle loading match rifle evolved, during the decade of the 1860's, from variations of the military pattern to a specialised target rifle not suitable for military use. The majority of these rifles were around .451 calibre and termed 'small-bore' rifles, to distinguish them from the 'large-bore' service rifle of .577 calibre. Further information on these specialised target rifles can be found on the Long Range Muzzle Loader web site.