The corps attended the first camp at Warminster Down in 1868, and also was present at that held on Homerton Down, near Salisbury, the next year, and were present at the various reviews at Lansdowne, Salisbury, Wilton Park, &c., seldom appearing in less strength than twenty-five files, exclusive of officers and supernumeraries. These attendances entailed a great expense, some of it coming out of the general fund, but much from private resources. In September, 1869, Earl Seymour, heir to the dukedom and originator of the corps, died, leaving the estate without direct heir, and consequently with diminished interest in keeping up the company; Captain H.B. Festing withdrew from the command, and the muster-roll had become far below that required; so a meeting was called, at which it was determined that the officers should tender their resignations and an application be made for the disbandment of the corps. The accounts were all wound up, and on the completion and passing of these the 6th Corps 1st Administrative Battalion Wilts Rifle Volunteers was finally dissolved, ceasing to appear in the Army List after the early part of 1873.
The silver bugle was left in safe keeping, so that in case of another "war's alarm" it might be ready when wanted, and the Maiden Bradley Rifle Corps be once again enrolled among the gallant men of Wilts willing and anxious to serve their Queen and country.
It may not be out of place before bringing this to a conclusion to tell something about the good shooting of many in the corps. At public meetings, perhaps, the members were not numerous, but good shooting was to be seen on the practice ground on Bradley Knoll. Col.-Sergeant S.E. Jefferys won the County Challenge Cup, Bronze Medal of N.R.A., the Etruscan Vase presented by the Mayor and Town Council of Salisbury in 1864, the Fonthill Challenge Cup, open to the county, being won in three competitions out of four, Mr. F.H. Poynder's 50-guinea Vase at Warminster in 1866; later, competing for the Officers' Prize, presented yearly by F.H. Poynder, Esq., Mr. Jefferys carried away the Challenge Centre piece, to be held for the year, and a Silver Claret Jug to be retained; Lady Charlotte Watson Taylor's "Prize for Officers" also fell to his share. Corporal T. Jefferys, his brother, won the County Challenge Cup, Bronze Medal of the N.R.A., and Silver Tea Service presented with it in 1869. The winners of other than public prizes are not mentioned.
Thus ends the history of a thoroughly good corps. It perished from want of support, but scattered as were the members all over the county, its existence from the first was problematical.
No. 8 CORPS. HEAD QUARTERS, MERE.
Unfortunately records of the early proceedings connected with the raising of this company are not to be found; and whether the usual public meetings were held and the neighbourhood asked for subscriptions as a preliminary business, with the subsequent formation of committees of management and drawing up rules, &c., as was customary generally, is not shown. On the Groves, of Zeals House (whose estates, including the town of Mere, bordered on those of the Duke of Somerset), appears to have fallen almost all, if not quite all, of the trouble and expense of raising and equipping this corps. The heir to the dukedom of Somerset had raised and equipped a very fine body of men from his father's properties at Maiden Bradley and Silton, and not improbably this led the young squire of the adjacent property to attempt the same thing, more especially as knowing that he could get advice and valuable assistance from his neighbour and friend, Lord Seymour, the captain of the newly-raised corps of rifle volunteers, with their headquarters at Maiden Bradley.
It is very clever now in people to discover that in a neighbourhood such as Mere and Bradley there was too sparse a population from which to form and keep up two rifle corps, and that to have always sixty efficients on your roll entailed the necessity for very many more useless appendages being within hail. The young squire of Zeals House, at that time just obtaining a commission in the Guards as ensign and lieutenant, managed, without much difficulty, from among his tenants and the tradesmen and mechanics of the small town of Mere, to get together the required number wherewith a company or corps could be formed; and, as is shown by letters, asked Lord Seymour to advise him on what next was to be done, as he was anxious that all should be performed well and quickly. At the time the possibility of invasion was never doubted, and those knowing the horrors of being invaded, or after thought and consultation, saw how exposed and really unprotected we were, dreaded losing the time necessary for the proper training and equipping of the new force through the red-tapeism and prejudices of War Office subordinates. Then, as now, the navy was our great stand-by, and was our first, and with the regulars abroad, our only line of defence; the militia being, generally speaking, too ill-trained to be quite reliable. We have now improved our regulars, militia, and added a huge multitude of fairly-instructed volunteers. We have, too, a navy more powerful than any other single nation, but other peoples have increased and improved their armies, and as regards their navies and mercantile marine have advanced as much if not more than ourselves, and things which were doubtfully possible thirty years ago may now be, comparatively speaking, not a very difficult matter to realize.
In 1859 we were pushed hard by the mutinies in India, had scarcely recovered from the effects of the Crimean War, and the reduction of our forces to a peace establishment, and knowing our unprepared condition, the nation then, through the voice of Parliament, insisted on information from the Government of the day as to how we really stood, and in the event of prevailing reports becoming true, in what manner they were prepared to meet the emergency; the stereotyped answer being received, "that in due course of time all would be arranged, and that the departments were in perfect order, having worked hard, and were working most judiciously and economically," the country took upon itself to see things in their proper light, and knowing that invasion was possible, raised the Volunteer Force.