| A | Company | (Audit Office) | 81 | Captain | Hawker. |
| B & C | “ | (Post Office) | 133 | {“ | Harrington. |
| {“ | Du Plat Taylor. | ||||
| D & E | “ | (Inld. Revenue) | 102 | {“ | Dalbiac. |
| {“ | Ennis, junr. | ||||
| F & G | “ | (Whitehall) | 153 | {“ | Tom Taylor. |
| {“ | Mills. | ||||
| H | “ | (Admiralty) | 64 | “ | Willis. |
| 533 | |||||
Composition of Corps.
These numbers scarcely convey a correct impression of the hold which the corps had secured upon the Civil Service. It must be remembered that, in addition to the effective strength as given above, there were at least 500 honorary members including many who occupied leading official positions. These were individuals who were debarred by age or other reasons from drilling, but who, nevertheless, were quite as enthusiastic in advocating the new “movement” as their more active comrades in the ranks.
Of the latter it may be said that, on the whole, they were men of more advanced age and position than we are now accustomed to see in the ranks. Shouldering the rifle amongst them were many men now of note—Lord Lingen, Sir R. G. C. Hamilton, Lord Teynham, and others. The name of Mr. Tom Taylor the well known dramatic author, afterwards editor of Punch, has already been mentioned; whilst other literary and scientific men the corps could then claim were Professor Huxley, Professor Tyndall, Mr. Anthony Trollope, Mr. W. S. Gilbert, and Mr. Edmund Yates.
To turn from the doings of the Council to those of the Regiment itself, we find that the first parade of the combined corps “for the purpose of drilling as a battalion” was held at Somerset House on the 28th March, 1860.
First Battalion Drill, &c.
This parade was in plain clothes and without arms, but in the following week the regiment mustered in uniform and under arms. Captain Ennis (afterwards Adjutant) took the command at these drills.
The following week the regiment was ready for its first “march out.” This notable event was held at Wimbledon, amidst torrents of rain, and is commemorated by a sketch made by Captain Angell, a photograph of which hangs in the Orderly Room. The expense of this march was defrayed by a collection of ten shillings per man.
From this time, instruction in battalion drill proceeded with great vigour. The use of the West London Cricket Ground at Brompton was obtained for the purpose, and the regiment marched there weekly, whilst other battalion drills and “skeleton drills” for officers were held almost daily at Somerset House.
Matters proceeded so rapidly on the appointment of a Lieutenant-Colonel, that Lord Bury considered that the Corps might be safely exposed to the perils of a sham fight to be held by the Metropolitan Volunteers at Bromley, on the 14th July. This, however, did not appear to be the opinion of the regiment itself when the day arrived. The muster was very small. It was attributed afterwards by Lord Bury in Orders, to the fact that “many members of the regiment had resolved not to come on account of the danger to be apprehended from the inexperience of their comrades in firing drill.”