A line drawing of a man in a military uniform and cap, wearing spectacles and holding a thin stick at his side.

Varsity Types: C.U.R.V. member

Cambridge University Rifle Volunteers

History of the C.U.R.V.

On 5 March 1860, the Vice Chancellor administered the oath of allegiance to the 3rd Cambridgeshire (Cambridge University) Rifle Volunteer Corps on the lawn of King’s College. The Prince of Wales, who was appointed as the honorary colonel of the corps on 8 March 1861, provided £50 to meet the expense of a new rifle range, and shooting became a prominent social activity of the cadets, and a source of inter-university competition with Oxford from 1868 onwards.

This information is extracted from the following history by Edward M Spiers of officer training corps and the lead to WWI:

http://www.comec.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/occasional_paper_no_4_no_crop.pdf

A large group of men in uniform stands in rows before the chapel and a large stone college building in a monochrome photograph.

Cambridge University Rifle Volunteers c.1859. King’s College. Founded in 1859.

1863

Twelve uniformed riflemen with numbered heads posed around a table of trophies, with one man reclining in the foreground.

Prize winners of the Sixth Cambridgeshire Volunteer Rifle Corps

1 Weatherhead

2 Bugler Jocelyn

3 Legge

4 Pashler

5 Bull

6 Wilkerson

7 Taylor

8 Hills

9 Adams

10 Marsh

11 Captain Calthorpe

12 H Kempton

Seven men in uniform stand or recline before a large tent, each marked with a number corresponding to a handwritten list below.

Sixth Cambridgeshire Volunteer Rifle Corps 1876 (MoC2/218/64)

1 C Homes

2 M Woodroffe

3 G Toombs

4 W Crawley

5 W Carter

6 F T Cross

7 W Homes

A group of uniformed men in military attire and headgear poses with brass instruments and drums in front of a stone building.

Cambridge Volunteers – Drum Major Greef c.1875, Downing College Cambridge (MoC)

Group of men in military uniforms pose in rows outdoors, with one man in civilian clothing seated in the center.

2nd Battalion Suffolk Regiment, Aldershot 1888 (MoC)

Projects

King's Parade

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