3-003-686 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

National Rifle Association meeting at Wimbledon: firing at the 200 yards range on Thursday week, 1861. 'Almost every corps in the kingdom was represented by its elite shots, and the muster about the shooting station of those interested in their friends' success, as well as anxious for the honour of their corps, their native town or county, showed that the interest which England has taken in the volunteer movement, so far from abating, is decidedly on the increase...The highest score gained during the day was by Mr. Dickins, of the Victoria Rifles who marked 13 in five shots. The greatest number that could be got, by hitting the centre each time, is only 15...In the course of the day the forty gentlemen standing in the order of merit were presented with the Whitworth rifles, twenty to keep them absolutely, and twenty to use them in the course of the competition...Shortly after three o'clock the competition for the public schools began, those represented being Harrow, Eton, and Rugby, eleven from each, and nothing could be more interesting than the excellence of their fire and the steadiness with which it was maintained. From "Illustrated London News", 1861.