COMMENDED ESSAY, 1892 . 
601 
A study of the circumstances which gave rise to such a tradition, 
and the successive advances towards perfection in Fire Discipline will 
be of interest, and a valuable aid in proving its necessity. 
The artillery of England has taken no part in European warfare 
since rifled guns and far-reaching shell, with accurate time fuzes, have 
become recognised factors in an engagement. Officers and men had 
been accustomed to short ranges, to guns served smartly enough, 
no doubt, but laid entirely at individual caprice. In 1857 a period of 
peace set in. The energies of all ranks were devoted to precision of 
drill and polish of turn-out. 
In 1866 the breech-loading rifle revolutionised modern tactics, and 
the comparative loss of value in mobile artillery set men thinking. 
Gunners began to study the reasons of this apparent deficiency in 
their arm. The results of this study were practically shown by the 
Prussians in 1870-71. Prince Kraft, in comparing the efficiency of 
their artillery in 1870 with what it had been in 1866, says : “ I could 
never have believed that the instruction given in time of peace would 
have borne such excellent fruit in spite of the excitement of action.” 1 
Batteries of English artillery were mobilised, and actually under 
orders to proceed to the Belgian frontier. The events of the Franco- 
German War were eagerly followed and discussed in England. 
Admiration of the success of the German artillery gave a stimulus 
which the English artillery officers sadly needed. Individuals began 
working by rule of thumb, but there was no definite or uniform 
system. The Manual of Field Artillery Exercises of 1861, of 228 
pages, does not contain one word of instruction in gunnery, except as 
to purely mechanical routine drill. The Manual of 1873 gives instruc¬ 
tions as to laying*, judging distances, ammunition and, still more 
important, an outline of course of instruction. This is the first real 
acknowledgment of the necessity of Fire Discipline. 
In 1875 the importance of doing something to train the personnel 
was so successfully urged by a few leading artillery officers that a land 
range was secured at Okehampton. 
Prizes for skill-at-arms were introduced in 1876, and a thorough 
and systematic course of instruction ordered to be carried out in each 
battery. 
From this date a new era commences. The Regiment began to 
admit the necessity of Fire Discipline. But only by slow degrees. 
In 1877 Colonel Fox Strangways writes :—“ If opinion in the Regi¬ 
ment were convinced that good shooting was essential to success in 
war, the greater part of the difficulty would be overcome.” 2 In 1880 
we read, “ for some years past it has been gradually becoming apparent 
that the position, duties, and responsibilities of the junior regimental 
officers, must undergo an entire change in order to meet the altered 
conditions of modern warfare.” 3 
1 “Letters on Artillery.” 
2 It.A.I. “ Proceedings,” Yol. IX., page 406. 
3 It.A.I. “ Proceedings,” by Lieutenant A. M. Murray, E.H.A., Yol. XI., page 373. 
Note. —The whole of this remarkable article bears directly on the subject of this essay, and the 
matter is as true and weighty now as when it was written. 
