The St Giles's and St George's Bloomsbury Rifle Volunteer Corps, more familiarly known as the Bloomsbury Rifles, was a

Volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

unit of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

in London from 1803 to 1814 and from 1860 until 1908.

Early history

The 'Bloomsbury and Inns of Court Volunteers' was one of the Volunteer Corps raised in June 1797 during the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted France against Britain, Austria, Prussia ...

. It was formed by the residents of the London district of Bloomsbury and the lawyers of the

Inns of Court The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. There are four Inns of Court – Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple. All barristers must belong to one of them. They have ...

. Its uniform was depicted by

Thomas Rowlandson Thomas Rowlandson (; 13 July 175721 April 1827) was an English artist and caricaturist of the Georgian Era, noted for his political satire and social observation. A prolific artist and printmaker, Rowlandson produced both individual social an ...

as a red jacket with yellow

facings A facing colour is a common tailoring technique for European military uniforms where the visible inside lining of a standard military jacket, coat or tunic is of a different colour to that of the garment itself.René Chartrand, William Younghusb ...

, white breeches and black gaiters, with white cross-belts and a 'round hat' (similar to a

Top hat A top hat (also called a high hat, a cylinder hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat for men traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditional ...

) surmounted by a

comb A comb is a tool consisting of a shaft that holds a row of teeth for pulling through the hair to clean, untangle, or style it. Combs have been used since prehistoric times, having been discovered in very refined forms from settlements dating ba ...

-like black plume. This unit was disbanded at the Peace of Amiens in 1802, and when it was resuscitated on the renewal of war in 1803, a separate St Giles's and St George's Bloomsbury Volunteers (known as the GGB) was raised in the parishes of

St Giles-in-the-Fields St Giles in the Fields is the Anglican parish church of the St Giles district of London. It stands within the London Borough of Camden and belongs to the Diocese of London. The church, named for St Giles the Hermit, began as a monastery and ...

and St George's, Bloomsbury. This unit continued until the return of peace in 1814.

Rifle Volunteers

The enthusiasm for the

Volunteer movement The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated ...

following an invasion scare in 1859 saw the creation of many Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVCs) composed of part-time soldiers eager to supplement the Regular

in time of need. The formation of a new RVC for the parishes of St Giles and St George was agreed at a public meeting held at the Store Street Music Hall on 22 December 1859. The proposal was supported by Sir Samuel Morton Peto, the civil engineer and MP for Finsbury, and by

Nevil Story Maskelyne Mervyn Herbert Nevil Story Maskelyne (3 September 1823 – 20 May 1911) was an English geologist and politician. Scientific career Educated at Wadham College, Oxford, Maskelyne taught mineralogy and chemistry at Oxford from 1851, before becom ...

of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

(who later became one of the officers). The St Giles's and St George's Bloomsbury Rifles was officially formed on 31 March 1860 at the District Board of Works office in

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its root ...

and was numbered as the 37th Middlesex RVC.Westlake, p. 174.Beckett, Appendix VII.Keeson, Appendix I: VIII.St Giles & St George's Bloomsbury Rifles at Regiments.org.
/ref> Unlike in 1797, the lawyers formed their own corps in 1860: the 23rd (Inns of Court) Middlesex RVC at Lincoln's Inn and the 40th (Central London Rifle Rangers) Middlesex RVC at

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...

. After formation, the corps was organised as; * Corps Headquarters at Local Board of Works,

* No.1 Company * No.2 Company * No.3 Company * No.4 Company The new Bloomsbury Rifles consisted of one company, which joined the 4th Administrative Battalion of Middlesex RVCs. It maintained its independence despite suggestions that it should merge with the 28th (St Pancras) Middlesex RVC, and the existence of another corps in Bloomsbury, the 19th, formed at the Working Men's College by

Thomas Hughes Thomas Hughes (20 October 182222 March 1896) was an English lawyer, judge, politician and author. He is most famous for his novel ''Tom Brown's School Days'' (1857), a semi-autobiographical work set at Rugby School, which Hughes had attended. ...

. The Bloomsbury Rifles had four companies within a year, was made independent of the 4th Admin Bn in 1861, and its strength had risen to eight companies by 1866. The unit adopted a uniform of

Rifle green Shades of chartreuse are listed below. Historically, many of these colors have gone under the name of either yellow or green, as the specifics of their color composition was not known until later. Wrapping the spectrum into a color wheel In a ...

with green facings. The title of St Giles's and St George's Bloomsbury was officially added to its number in 1869, when the 19th (Working Men's College, Bloomsbury) Middlesex RVC was obliged to drop the 'Bloomsbury' from its title.

Training

From the beginning the Foundling Hospital in Guilford Street gave permission for the Bloomsbury Rifles to use its grounds (

Coram's Fields Coram's Fields is a seven acre urban open space in the Kings Cross area of the London Borough of Camden. Adults are only permitted to enter if accompanied by children. History The park is situated on the former site of the Foundling Hospi ...

) for drill and soon the headquarters was established at the Hospital. Old Russian muskets captured in the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

were at first used for drill. In its early days the corps organised a private camp at

Wimbledon Common Wimbledon Common is a large open space in Wimbledon, southwest London. There are three named areas: Wimbledon Common, Putney Heath, and Putney Lower Common, which together are managed under the name Wimbledon and Putney Commons totalling 4 ...

, on the ranges of the National Rifle Association, and in 1871 it inaugurated the tradition of marching to the annual Volunteer Review at Brighton. When the Cardwell Reforms introduced 'Localisation of the Forces' in 1873, the 37th Middlesex was brigaded, together with several other London and Middlesex Volunteer and

Militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

battalions, in Brigade No 53 & 54 under the Regular Rifle Brigade. The Volunteer units of these brigades met once a year for a training camp.''Army List'', various dates.

Drill Hall

The last former member of the St Giles and St George's (GGB) Volunteers of 1803–14 died in 1877, and a High Court ruling allowed the newer unit to take over its remaining funds (£2000). This sum was put towards building a dedicated drill hall and battalion HQ. Designed by the architect Samuel Knight, an officer in the corps, and costing £11,000,

The Drill Hall RADA Studios (formerly The Drill Hall) is a theatrical venue in Chenies Street in Bloomsbury, just to the east of Tottenham Court Road in the West End of London. Owned by the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), the building contains rehearsal ...

Chenies Street Chenies Street is a street in Bloomsbury, London, that runs between Tottenham Court Road and Gower Street. It is the location of a number of notable buildings such as Minerva House, the Drill Hall (now RADA Studios), and a memorial to The Range ...

was built in 1882–3.

Reorganisation

The

Volunteer Force The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated ...

was reorganised in 1880, when the Bloomsbury Rifles were renumbered as the 19th (St Giles and St George's Bloomsbury) Middlesex RVC (causing some confusion with the former 19th (Working Men's College), now renumbered 10th) and the following year it became the 6th Volunteer Battalion of the Rifle Brigade without changing its title. The Stanhope Memorandum of December 1888 introduced a Mobilisation Scheme for Volunteer units, which would assemble in their own brigades at key points in case of war. In peacetime these brigades provided a structure for collective training. The Bloomsbury Rifles were assigned to the North London Brigade. The Bloomsbury Rifles Freemason Lodge No 2362 was formed by members of the battalion on 1 May 1890.

Second Boer War

After '

Black Week Black Week refers to the week of 10–17 December 1899 during the Second Boer War, when the British Army suffered three devastating defeats by the Boer Republics at the battles of Stormberg, Magersfontein and Colenso. In total, 2,776 British s ...

' in December 1899, the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

accepted the offer of the

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional pow ...

, Sir Alfred Newton, to raise a force (the

City Imperial Volunteers The City of London Imperial Volunteers (CIV) was a British corps of volunteers during the Second Boer War. After the outbreak of the Second Boer War in October 1899, volunteer corps were established in most counties of the United Kingdom to prov ...

(CIVs)) from among the London Volunteer units for service in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

. The Bloomsbury Rifles provided a detachment of one officer and 39 other ranks, who served in South Africa between February and October 1900. A further 58 members of the battalion served with the

Imperial Yeomanry The Imperial Yeomanry was a volunteer mounted force of the British Army that mainly saw action during the Second Boer War. Created on 2 January 1900, the force was initially recruited from the middle classes and traditional yeomanry sources, but s ...

, two with the King's Royal Rifle Corps, and 29 with the Royal Army Medical Corps. For providing these contingents the Bloomsbury Rifles was awarded the

Battle honour A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags ("colours"), uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible. In European military t ...

South Africa 1900–02.

Territorial Force

When the

Volunteers Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

were subsumed into the new

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry ...

under the Haldane Reforms of 1908, the Middlesex RVCs were transferred to the new all-Territorial London Regiment. The 19th (GGB) Middlesex RVC was merged into the 1st (Queen Victoria's Rifles) Middlesex RVC to form the 9th Bn London Regiment (QVR), which continued to use the QVRs' HQ at Davies Street. The 12th Bn London Regiment (The Rangers) (formerly the 22nd Middlesex RVC (Central London Rangers)) took over the Bloomsbury Rifles' Drill Hall in Chenies Street on 25 June 1908, and it remained in use until 1960.''London Gazette'' 20 March 1908.
/ref>

Commanding officers

The following officers commanded the corps during its existence: * Lt-Col John Jeakes, 1860–63 * Lt-Col Malcolm Corrie, 1863–66 * Lt-Col Robert Stedall, 1866–80 * Lt-Col Samuel Richards, 1880–98 * Lt-Col B.W. Hardcastle, 1898–1904 * Lt-Col A.S. Bargam, 1904–08

Notes

References

* Maj R. Money Barnes, ''The Soldiers of London'', London: Seeley Service, 1963. * Ian F.W. Beckett, ''Riflemen Form: A Study of the Rifle Volunteer Movement 1859–1908'', Aldershot: Ogilby Trusts, 1982, . * Bridget Cherry & Nikolaus Pevsner, ''The Buildings of England: London 4: North'', London: Yae University Press, 2002, . * Col John K. Dunlop, ''The Development of the British Army 1899–1914'', London: Methuen, 1938. * Lt-Col James Moncrieff Grierson (Col Peter S. Walton, ed.), ''Scarlet into Khaki: The British Army on the Eve of the Boer War'', London: Sampson Low, 1899/London: Greenhill, 1988, . * Maj C.A. Cuthbert Keeson, ''The History and Records of Queen Victoria's Rifles 1792–1922'', London: Constable, 1923//Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2002, . * Thomas Rowlandson, ''Loyal Volunteers of London and Environs'', London: Rudolf Acermann, 1798–9. * Edward M. Spiers, ''The Army and Society 1815–1914'', London: Longmans, 1980, . * Ray Westlake, ''Tracing the Rifle Volunteers'', Barnsley: Pen and Sword, 2010, . * Capt A.V. Wheeler-Holohan & Capt C.M.G. Wyatt (eds), ''The Rangers' Historical Records from 1859 to the Conclusion of the Great War'', London, 1921/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2003, {{ISBN, 978-1843426110.

External sources

Military units and formations in London Military units and formations in Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps of the British Army Military units and formations established in 1803 Military units and formations disestablished in 1908