The 1883 Annual Volunteer Match
The 1883 Annual Volunteer Match, also called the Nottinghamshire Rifle Association Prize Meeting, was announced in the Regimental Orders of 14th June 1883.
It is included in the events taking place at the range, the Town Butts, in the following week.
After the range dates there is a list of people and firms who had donated towards the Regimental Prize Fund held for other competitions. Several names have a familiar ring to them.
Nottingham Evening Post, Friday, 15 June, 1883
RIFLE CORPS
ROBIN HOOD RIFLES
Headquarters, Nottingham Castle, 14th June 1883
REGIMENTAL ORDERS
By Lieut.-Colonel Seely, M.P., commanding.
No.1 - Parades next week will be as follows:-
Tuesday 19th and Friday 22nd.
Battalion Drill under a Field Officer.
Assemble at the Race Stand at 7.45pm
Undress Uniform. Bugle Band.
Tent Pitching, Tuesday 19th, A Company (late No.1)
Friday 22nd, D Company (late No. 4)
No. 2 - Range - Registering target practice each day next week, except Thursday 21st, when the range will be occupied by the Notts Rifle Association.
Detail- Monday 19th, A and H Companies Monthly Competitions
Wednesday 20th, E and K Companies Monthly Competitions.
Thursday 21st, Notts Rifle Association Meeting.
Friday 22nd, B and D Companies Monthy Competitions.
No. 3 - The following additional donations of £1 each to the Regimental Prize Fund have been kindly given by:–
| Alderman J Barber, JP | R W Parsons, Esq, JP | |
| Alderman J Manning, JP | G Kenrick, Esq | |
| W A Patterson, Esq., JP | W McCraith, Esq. | |
| Doctor W H Ransom | Edwin Green, Esq. | |
| Doctor J White | John Lambert, Esq. | |
| C Butlin, Esq. | Robert Dickinsopn, Esq. | |
| A Goater, Esq. | Alfred Page, Esq. | |
| S Maples, Esq. | Messrs. Jessop and Sons | |
| J Beddard Esq. | Messrs Foster and Cooper | |
| D Whittingham, Esq. | Messrs. W and G King | |
| J L Bullock, Esq. | Messrs. Miller Brothers | |
| G H Wallis, Esq. | Messrs. Sale, Sons and Co. |
No. 4 - The following promotion is published:-
Bugle Band, Corporal A Derrick to be Sergeant; Bugler G H White to be Corporal.
By order. A.B. Wallis, Major-Adjutant, R.H.R.
The account of the actual match, on the 21st June, appeared in the Nottingham and Midland Counties Daily Express of June 26th. Unfortunately the print quality of this newspaper was not as crisp as it should have been and the image is extremely blurred. Names can in the main be deduced; but the figures for the scores cannot be read with any certainty.
The transcript opposite is as much as has been able to be extracted until an account of the event can be found in another source.
Nottingham and Midland Counties Daily Express,
Tuesday, June 26, 1883
NOTTS. RIFLE ASSOCIATION.
The 23rd prize meeting took place at the Town Butts on Thursday, June 21st, when the members competed for the Bronze Medal of the National Rifle Association and £25 divided into twenty aggregate and twelve range prizes; conditions, {?}position, scoring and targets as in the first part of the Queen's Prize 1883, no competitor to take more than one prize. The light was good, but the wind blowing strongly and continually shifting from NE to NW made good shooting a matter of great difficulty. Sergeant Carder, of no. 9 company, R.H.R., however, won the bronze medal with the excellent score of 86 and is thereby entitled to shoot for the Prince of Wales's prize at Wimbledon this year. The prizes will be distributed at the Central Armoury on Wednesday, June 27th, at 8.30pm. The following are the winners in order of merit:–
The following table of names and scores is extremely blurred in the original image. What follows is as much as can be deduced and may contain errors.
| Sergeant G Carder, No 9 Co |
| Sergeant H Davis, No 3 Co |
| Sergeant R Hampden, 2nd Notts |
| Corporal J Ashworth, No 1 Co |
| Lieutenant J O {?} No 1 Co |
| Col. Sergt. W Broadhouse, No 4 Co |
| Private K P Martlet, No 4 Co |
| Corporal R Derrick, No 4 Co |
| Corporal W Lewis, 2nd Notts |
| Private M Allsop, No 9 Co |
| Private J Brown, No 1 Co |
| Private J Longmeadow, No 7 Co |
| Private A Sibert, No 6 Co |
| Surgeon Major T Wright, Staff |
| Col.-Sregt. J Cumberland, No 5 Co |
| Corporal R Livesey, No 9 Co |
| Corporal T Vickers, No 7 Co |
| Col.-Sgt. Hodgson, No 5 Co |
| Sergeant F Warsop, No 10 Co |
| Private R F Bevan, No 4 Co |
The next source found for the 23rd annual prize meeting was in the Litchfield Mercury of July 6th; but it does not add much to the previous report.
The Litchfield Mercury, Friday, July 6, 1883
Extract from VOLUNTEER JOTTINGS.
Twelve range prizes and twenty aggregate prizes are the sum total of the 23rd annual prize meeting of the Notts. Rifle Association, about £25 being given in prizes. Sergeant Carder, of the Robin Hoods, gets the bronze medal of the N.R.A. and £2 10s. for 86 at Queen's first stage ranges; Sergeant Davis 30s. for 85, and Sergeant Rushton, 2nd Notts., 25s. for 84.
Then a further report was published in the Volunteer Service Gazette of 4th August. The quality of the printing was much better than the newspapers above and names and scores were readily transcribed.
The only information missing is the prizes won by each shooter. These were in the largely illegible report in the Nottingham and Midland Counties Daily Express above.
Sergeants Carder and Davies collected £1 10s. each.
Volunteer Service Gazette, 4 August, 1883, p.673.
NOTTS. RIFLE ASSOCIATION.
The 23rd prize meeting of this Association took place at the Town Butts at the end of June, when the members competed for the Bronze Medal of the National Rifle Association, and £25 divided into twenty aggregate and twelve range prizes. Conditions as in First Part of the First Stage of the Queen's Prize, 1883 - viz. seven shots each at 200, 500, and 600 yards, 200 kneeling, 500 and 600 sitting, kneeling or prone; no competitor to take more than one prize. The light was good, but the wind blowing strongly and continually shifting from the front to the right and left front, made good shooting a matter of some difficulty. Sergeant Carder, of No. 9 Company R.H.R., however, succeeded in putting on the good score of 86, thereby winning the Bronze Medal. The following are the principal winners in order of merit:–
| 200 | 500 | 600 | Total | |
| Carder, Sergeant G. | 29 | 32 | 25 | 86 |
| Davies, Sergeant H. | 28 | 26 | 31 | 85 |
| Rushton, Sergeant R. | 30 | 32 | 22 | 84 |
| Ashworth, Corporal J. | 29 | 28 | 26 | 83 |
| Spendlove, Lieut. J.G. | 25 | 29 | 26 | 80 |
| Brookhouse, Col.-Sergt. W. | 30 | 27 | 23 | 80 |
| Bartlett, Private E.P. | 30 | 24 | 25 | 79 |
| Derrick, Corporal S.R. | 31 | 29 | 19 | 79 |
| Lewis, Corporal W. | 29 | 28 | 22 | 79 |
| Allsop, Private G. | 28 | 22 | 29 | 78 |
| Bowes, Private J. | 25 | 30 | 22 | 77 |
| Leavesley, Private J. | 25 | 28 | 23 | 76 |
| Sibert, Private A. | 24 | 25 | 26 | 75 |
| Wright, Surgeon-Major T. | 29 | 23 | 23 | 75 |
| Cumberland, Col.-Sergeant J. | 30 | 27 | 18 | 75 |
| Livesey, Corporal R. | 28 | 25 | 21 | 74 |
| Vickers, Corporal T. | 30 | 16 | 27 | 73 |
| Hodson, Col.-Sgt T. | 25 | 27 | 21 | 73 |
| Warsop, Sergeant F. | 30 | 27 | 16 | 73 |
| Byrns, Private R.E. | 21 | 19 | 24 | 72 |
Transcripts from the Nottingham Evening Post, 15 June 1883,
the Nottingham and Midland Counties Daily Express, 26 June 1883,
The Litchfield Mercury, Friday, July 6, 1883
and the Volunteer Service Gazette, 4 August, 1883, p.673.
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