Some TKHtmblefcon t>eroea 633 



Bucknill has the credit of establishing the first Volunteer 

 Corps known in England since the time of the 

 Napoleonic wars, for he, in conjunction with Dr. Pycroft, 

 founded the First Devon and Exeter Rifles as far back 

 as 1852. To the general public he was chiefly known in 

 his later days as an expert in lunacy, but it was for his 

 zealous services in connection with the Volunteer move- 

 ment that he was knighted in 1894. ms_son_Mr. 

 Justice Bucknill inherits the martial and sporting tastes 

 but not the colossal frame of his sire. 



Then there was Hans Busk, whose name is still held 

 in high honour by the Victorias, for he reconstituted 

 them as a corps in 1858 and gave them the right to 

 call themselves the oldest Rifle Corps in the kingdom, 

 barring the Honourable Artillery Company, which can 

 trace its origin to the old City Train-bands. Hans 

 Busk did more perhaps than any other man, not even 

 excepting Sir John Bucknill, towards establishing our 

 present Volunteer Army. Whilst still an undergraduate 

 at Cambridge, as far back as 1838, he wrote pamphlets 

 urging the Government to sanction the formation of 

 Rifle Clubs, and used all his personal influence to rouse 

 an interest in the subject among the War Office officials. 

 Lord Melbourne, the then Premier, threw cold water 

 on the young enthusiast ; but that did not damp his 

 enthusiasm, for he established a model Rifle Club at 

 Cambridge^andjnade an earnest appeal to the country 

 to support the movement in his excellent little book 

 " The RJfle^and how to use it." He lectured all over 

 England on the subject dearest to his heart ; he 

 published pamphlets and manuals ; he spared neither 



