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Written by: David Minshall
Priaulx, William Arthur (1870-1946) Born. St. Pierre Port, 1870. Occupation: Carpenter / Fruit Grower. Private, Guernsey Militia, 1899. Died: St. Pierre Port, 1946.
Queen’s Prize Gold Medal: 1899.
INDEX. G.T. Teasdale-Bucknell in his book “Experts on Guns & Shooting” (1900) referred to William Metford as the ‘father of the match rifle’ and ‘the father of modern rifle-boring.’
William Metford worked closely with the Bristol gunmaker George Gibbs, the manufacturer of the Gibbs-Metford muzzle loading match rifle and the later Farquharson-Metford breech loading rifle.
It was in connection with rifle shooting and the volunteer movement that Sir Henry was best known. At the beginning of the movement in 1860 he took command of a company of the Leicestershire volunteers. In 1862 he became colonel of the battalion. In 1868 he resigned, but resumed the office in 1878, and held it till 1891, in which year he became honorary colonel. In 1886 he received the order of C.B.
In 1893 the influential London magazine ‘The Strand’ published an illustrated interview with Sir Henry Halford. “The Grand Old Man of Shooting,” Sir Henry Halford revelled in records almost from the very first meeting at Wimbledon in 1860, and it is a remarkable fact that amongst his prizes are those of the Albert at Wimbledon in 1862 and the same trophy at Bisley in 1893, a record lapse of thirty-one years!