Rifle Volunteer Corps
(From a paper by John Reid: The Rifle Volunteer Corps of Alresford, 1859-1908)

	Rifle Volunteer Corps - the site of Brockenhurst's Volunteers' Rifle Range

At the same time the government was urged to reform the Volunteer forces, which had been raised previously between 1793 and 1813, but had then been largely disbanded. The government agreed to the formation of a Volunteer Rifle Force. Each local Corps would be independent and would meet its own expenses for uniform, drill hall, drill sergeants, rifle range etc. The government would, however, supply Long Enfield muzzle loading rifles and make grants based on attendance and standard of marksmanship.
 
The Volunteers were not initially intended as front line soldiers. The emphasis was on proficient marksmanship with the rifle. Volunteer sharpshooters would operate in small units and their intimate knowledge of their districts would make their most effective role in operating on the flanks and communications of the enemy. Drill was therefore kept to a minimum and uniform was as simple as possible.

There was no shortage of public spirited volunteers and within a short time local, Corps had been formed over the whole country. The main response came from ‘the numerous useful and intelligent class of clerks and shopkeepers, with officers from the gentlemen of the district.’

In December 1861, the 1st Administrative Battalion Hants Rifle Volunteers was created to establish uniformity in training among the six independent companies that had come into being in the Winchester area. Apart from his weekly local training a Volunteer was expected to attend eight official exercises each four months under regular Army instructors.

The crushing defeat of France by Prussia in 1871 sent another wave of alarm through Britain. The Regular Army was reformed, the Volunteers were armed with a better rifle, the breech loading Snyder, and in 1877 were issued with a smarter uniform, more in line with that of the County Regiment.
 
The role of the Volunteers was gradually brought closer-to that of the Regular Army. In. 1880 the 1st Administrative Battalion was consolidated with the 1st Hampshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, in which the individual Companies lost their independent status and became lettered Companies.
 
Eventually, in 1908, the citizen army of the Rifle Volunteers, which had expanded greatly during the Boer War, was absorbed, along with the County Militia, into the Territorial Forces (renamed Territorial Army in 1921). The 1st Hants provided the 4th Battalion the Hampshire Regiment, which was organised, equipped and trained on Regular Army lines and was intended in the event of war to relieve one of the regular Battalions which would then be available to fight in France.

Reference:
The Rifle Volunteer Corps of Alresford, 1859-1908:
http://www.alresford.org/displayed/displayed_14_1.php