The Historical Archive

Here we tell the story of the Nottinghamshire Rifle Association from its founding in 1861, after the Crimean War and in the midst of European and North American political upheavals through to the last century. The Association was formed in 1861 after the National Rifle Association's founding in 1860 and affiliated to the national body along with many other county associations to provide ongoing encouragement to the Volunteer Regiments. It is as much the history of the Volunteer Movement and particularly of the Robin Hood Rifles as of the Nottinghamshire Rifle Association up to the outbreak of the First World War.

Links to the Historical Archive Index Pages

The history index now contains many reports from 1861 through to the start of the 20th century. We have tried to include not only the results of the annual matches promoted by the Notts RA, but also articles of a wider interest that tell of the development of target shooting. We apologise for any errors or omissions that may be in the reports and welcome readers' corrections, observations and contributions.

Now in 2024, we have included memories from the 1950's & 1960's using material which has been donated to the Nottinghamshire Rifle Association in more recent times. Many items are unlabelled photographs for which we have tried to identify the people, places and events. If you can provide further information on any of the pictures, please get in touch by sending an email to us from this link.

The memories can be found using the 1945-1960 link above.