2-996-093 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Great Rifle-shooting Match on Wimbledon Common [in London] - Her Majesty firing the first shot, 1860. Queen Victoria inaugurates the meeting of the National Rifle Association by firing the first shot from a Whitworth rifle at a range of 400 yards. [The Queen said:] '"I, together with my Royal Consort, have gladly given encouragement to a body whose object it is to render permanent an armed force limited exclusively to defensive purposes...I have witnessed with pleasure the manner in which the ancient fondness of the English people for manly and sylvan sports has been converted by your association to more important ends, and has been made an auxiliary instrument for maintaining inviolable the safety of our common country"...Mr. Whitworth was presented to the Queen, and had the honour of explaining the mode in which her Majesty was to fire the first shot from one of his own rifles. A piece of scarlet cord attached to the trigger was handed to the Queen, who gently pulled it, and the Royal rifle-shot was fired. In an instant the red and white flag was shown by the marker, and "three points" were scored to the Queen of England. Loud cheering followed, as her Majesty declared the prize meeting opened...' From "Illustrated London News", 1860.