TO
THE EARL PEMBROKE AND MONTGOMERY,
COMMANDING THE BATTALION.
ROBERT DWARRIS GIBNEY,
MAJOR, INDIAN ARMY (Retired),
Late Adjutant 1st Battalion Wiltshire Volunteers.
PREFACE.
It may be asked, What can be the history of a battalion of infantry not thirty years old, which has never seen a shot fired in earnest or done garrison duty? None, would be the reply, were the said battalion raised, officered, instructed, and regulated for, as are all its predecessors; but when this battalion is one of many created suddenly, without any well-arranged system for its continuance, and left at a time of great emergency to make its own arrangements, and sink or swim as it might, it must have a history, and the history of it is the history of every corps or company of which it is composed.
Rifle corps were raised anywhere, everywhere, anyhow, and nohow. War was imminent; the country was unprepared, terribly vulnerable, and the army and navy far too weak to afford protection. Influential gentlemen proposed rifle clubs, others were for arming keepers, and not a few anxiously inquired into the system pursued by the Victoria and Devonshire Rifles. To arm the people was a leap in the dark, and yet it had to be faced; and by May, 1859, the Government saw the "propriety of permitting the formation of rifle volunteer corps," and issued a circular accordingly. Beyond this sanction no assistance was offered, and according to the patronage of people of influence, or the length of their subscription list, so did these rifle volunteer corps get into existence and continue to live. Arms, accoutrements, ammunition, uniform, drill sheds, practice grounds, armouries, magazines, &c., &c., everything had to be found by the corps, and to country corps, those afterwards forming part of an administrative battalion, the expense was ruinous; far more expensive than to companies raised in large town or cities. There they could hire sheds, &c., and men attending drills could do so without losing a day's work and perhaps having to hire a trap. At the end of some months arms were furnished by the Government, and as no harm had yet been done by this show of confidence, at the end of the year the little independent corps were further favoured by being made part of volunteer battalions, an attendance at the headquarters of these battalions for so many drills in the year being directed, and a travelling allowance, most mean and unjustly arranged, being offered to cover expenses. The battalion had for its officers a lieut.-colonel, a major, an adjutant, a surgeon, and perhaps half-a-dozen retired sergeants as drill instructors, the adjutant and drill instructors alone receiving pay.
It was a time of great difficulty and doubt, but of course chiefly so at the commencement of the movement. Indeed, had it not been for the patience and perseverance of men and officers of the force, and the grand generosity and confidence in them shown by noblemen, gentlemen, tradesmen, and especially by ladies, the whole would have fallen through. The Government Order, as given below, will show the amount of assistance received therefrom.