The Queen’s Prize

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The National Rifle Association was founded in 1859 and held its first annual rifle meeting at Wimbledon in 1860. Queen Victoria fired the inaugural shot at the first rifle meeting on 2 July 1860. The Queen further offered encouragement by founding an annual prize that Volunteers competed for in two stages; originally the first stage was fired at 300, 500 and 600 yards, and the second at 800, 900 and 1000 yards. Prize money was £250.

Brief biographies of the Queen’s Prize winners can be found within 19th Century Riflemen. For a study of the evolution of the Queen’s Prize during the time it was held at Wimbledon (illustrated with contemporary badges and medals), see Research Press Journal, Spring 2019.

Winners of Her Majesty The Queen’s Prize

Year	Name		Rank	Regiment
1860	Edward Charles Russell	Ross	Private	7th North York
1861	Joseph Middleton	Jopling	Private	South Middlesex
1862	Stuart	Pixley	Sergeant	Victoria Rifles
1863	James	Roberts	Sergeant	12th Shropshire
1864	John	Wyatt	Private	London Rifle Brigade
1865	John	Sharman	Private	4th West York
1866	Angus	Cameron	Private	6th Inverness
1867	Henry	Lane	Sergeant	1st Gloucester (Bristol)
1868	John Barham	Carslake	Lieutenant	5th Somerset
1869	Angus	Cameron	Corporal	6th Inverness
1870	William	Humphries	Private	6th Surrey
1871	Alfred Paget	Humphry	Ensign	Cambridge University Rifle Corps
1872	William	Michie	Colour-Sergeant	7th Middlesex (London Scottish)
1873	Archibald	Menzies	Sergeant	Queen’s Edinburgh
1874	William Christopher	Atkinson	Private	1st Durham
1875	George	Pearse	Captain	18th Devon
1876	Robert	Pullman	Sergeant	South Middlesex
1877	George	Jamieson	Private	15th Lancashire
1878	Peter	Rae	Private	11th Stirling
1879	George	Taylor	Corporal	47th Lancashire
1880	Alexander	Ferguson	Private	1st Argyle
1881	Thomas	Beck	Private	3rd Devon
1882	Alexander	Lawrence	Sergeant	1st Dumbarton
1883	Robert	Mackay	Colour-Sergeant	1st Sutherland
1884	David	Gallant	Private	8th Middlesex
1885	Walter	Bulmer	Sergeant	2nd Lincoln
1886	Charles Henry	Jackson	Private	1st Lincoln
1887	Reginald Olliver	Warren	Lieutenant	1st Middlesex
1888	George Edmonston	Fulton	Private	13th Middlesex
1889	David	Reid	Sergeant	1st Lanark (Engineers)
1890	Henry	Bates	Sergeant	1st Warkickshire
1891	David	Dear	Private	Queen’s Edinburgh
1892	James	Pollock	Major	3rd Renfrewshire
1893	William T	Davies	Sergeant	1st V.B. Welsh Regiment
1894	Malcolm Stark	Rennie	Private	3rd Lanark Rifles
1895	Thomas Heywood	Hayhurst	Private	13th Battalion Canadian Rifles
1896	John Lorimer	Thomson	Lieutenant	Queen’s Edinburgh
1897	William Thomas	Ward	Private	1st V.B. Devon Regiment
1898	David	Yates	Lieutenant	3rd Lanark Rifles
1899	William Arthur	Priaulx	Private	Guernsey Militia
1900	William Thomas	Ward	Private	1st V.B. Devon Regiment

National Rifle Association

A Talk About The National Rifle Association Meeting At Wimbledon

Research Press
2018-02-10
0

You were at Wimbledon, at the great national rifle meeting. By all the accounts I have seen of it, it must have been a great success; but I should like to hear some of the details from an eye-witness; so tell me about it, for I was confined to my post here by work of all sort. With J.C. Templer, Captain Commanding 18th Middlesex.

National Rifle Association

The Wimbledon Rifle-Match

Research Press
2018-02-12
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Special trains had been running from Waterloo to Wimbledon throughout the ‘rifle-week,’ as fast as passengers accumulated at the station. On Saturday, when the Queen’s Prize was contended for, when what has been called the examination for double-first in rifle-shooting came on, crowds filled the carriages as fast as they could be got ready. We went down in the morning. Volunteers in all shades of uniform, with rifles, and pouches well stored with ammunition, were waiting on the platform, and took the train by assault as soon as it was formed.

National Rifle Association

Wimbledon & the Volunteers

Research Press
2017-08-20
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Mention Wimbledon today and tennis will be the sport that springs to mind; in the latter part of the 19th Century however, the foremost sport would have been rifle shooting. From 1860 until 1889 the National Rifle Association (NRA) held their annual rifle meeting on Wimbledon Common, with attendance in the thousands… and that was just the riflemen! So who were these riflemen and what were they doing at Wimbledon?