The 1881 Annual Volunteer Match
This brief report of the 1881 Prize Meeting was found in the Nottinghamshire Guardian of 8 July, the match having taken place on the 23 June at the Town Butts. The Guardian was a weekly paper at this time.
The report states that the match was the thirty-first to be held; but actually it was only the twenty-first since the inaugural match in 1861.
Details are reduced to aggregate scores only and no reference to the shooting conditions was made.
Compared to the previous year's match report, there has been a reduction in the amount of prize money on offer from £35 split into 25 prizes in 1880 to 10 guineas (£10 10s.) divided into 13 prizes in 1881. The top prize was also dropped from £4 to £2.
Nottinghamshire Guardian, Friday, 8 July, 1881
NOTTS RIFLE ASSOCIATION
The thirty-first prize meeting of the Notts Rifle Association was held at the Town Butts, Nottingham, on the 23rd ult., when 45 members competed for the bronze medal of the National Rifle Association and ten guineas divided into twelve prizes; conditions, seven rounds at Queen's ranges, Wimbledon scoring and targets. The winner of the bronze medal is entitled to shoot for the Prince of Wales' prize, value £100, at Wimbledon.
The following is the list of winners in order of merit:–
| Points | |
| Corporal Vickers, 1st Notts, medal and £2 | 90 |
| Corporal St Leo Smith, 1st Notts | 87 |
| Lieu. JTK Edge, 2nd Notts | 86 |
| Private G Allsop, 1st Notts | 84 |
| Sergeant W. Comery, 1st Notts | 84 |
| Quartermaster-Sergt EA Cuckson, 1st Notts | 84 |
| Corporal T Loach, 1st Notts | 83 |
| Private E Wilson, 1st Notts | 83 |
| Private J Lee, 1st Notts | 83 |
| Private J Ashworth, 1st Notts | 83 |
| Sergeant E Dracott, 1st Notts | 80 |
| Colour-Sergeant Warburton, 2nd Notts | 80 |
| Corporal Mayfield, 1st Notts | 80 |
Transcript from the Nottinghamshire Guardian 8 July 1881
British Library Newspaper Archive