NEW APRIL 2020. This is a 26-page booklet giving the rules of the Eastern Counties Railway Volunteer Rifle Corps based at Stratford, Essex. It is dated 1859. It contains a list of the members of the Council, followed by the 31 rules of the Corps. Anyone who discharged his rifle accidentally, for example, was liable to a fine of five shillings.

There were two classes of member. Honorary members had a choice of paying a guinea a year or taking out life membership. They were not obliged to buy a uniform. Their application form invited 'gentlemen wishing to join' to fill it in. Effective members were the actual soldiers, who were ordinary railway workers - their application form invited 'persons wishing to join' to fill it in!

These effective members still had to pay a hefty joining fee of ten shillings, plus an annual subscription of five shillings. The Corps supplied the uniform, the government provided the rifle.

The final part of the book gives the laws in force at the time relating to Volunteer Corps, whether infantry or cavalry.

The file will be available to download as soon as payment has been made. You go to your account and click on ‘Downloads’. New customers create an account as they place their order.