Dore and District Rifle Club and the Wilson Family

Dore and District Rifle Club

The rifle range at Totley Bents, constructed for military use, opened on 15th September 1900. Shortly afterwards, some Dore residents decided to form a rifle club; this would be affiliated with the National Rifle Association and would have the use of the Totley range (Sheffield Evening Telegraph, 18th January 1901). By 30th March 1901, the Sheffield Daily Telegraph could state that Dore and Totley Rifle Club was:

....making capital progress. It has now seventy members, with Mr. William Wilson, of Beauchief Hall, as president, with an influential body of patrons and vice-presidents… Practice with the Morris tube takes place every Tuesday and Thursday in the Dore schoolroom. It is hoped to get on the Totley Range in four or five weeks.

The Club, now known as Dore and District Rifle Club, held its opening shoot on 27th June 1901; its president was still William Wilson of Beauchief Hall, and its patrons included Ebenezer Hall and William Aldam Milner of Totley Hall. The Sheffield Daily Telegraph for 28th June 1901 reported William Wilson as saying, at the opening shoot, that:

Every Englishman ought to know how to handle a rifle.…Twenty-five years ago he was a good shot with the military rifle, but he found now that he could not begin where he left off. He fancied there was too much lying down about the shooting of to-day. If fifty Boers appeared on Strawberry Lee — and personally he wished they would — the Dore riflemen would have to take cover and not sprawl full length on a flat bit of ground. In conclusion, Mr. Wilson expressed a strong wish that every man would become a good marksman, and then Boers and "Bonies" would not be likely to interfere with us.

The report added that subscription to the Rifle Club had been fixed at a low price as the committee wished to encourage working class membership.

Courtesy of Picture Sheffield, reference s04021

Too much lying down…

Civilian shooters at Totley Rifle Range, early 1900s; the standing figure in uniform presumably had some overall responsibility for the site.

Wilsons & Co — Snuff Manufacturers

Joseph Wilson was the first to manufacture snuff at Sharrow Mills; he was doing so as long ago as 1746. The finely ground tobacco, to be sniffed, was sold in small tins such as that shown here. Joseph's son and grandson, both named William Wilson, continued the family business.

Joseph's grandson, William Wilson II, moved to Dore at some time between the 1851 and 1861 censuses, living in a house on Limb Lane known variously as Abbey View, Moss House, and The Moss. Joseph’s great grandson, William Wilson III, was born on 11th July 1850, when his parents were living at Whiteley Wood, but he was living in Dore at the latest by the time he was 10.

William Wilson III

In 1868, aged 18, William Wilson III joined the family firm, Wilsons and Company, snuff manufacturers, of Sharrow Mills; he became a partner in the firm in 1878. In addition to his role in the family business, he held a commission in the 4th West Yorks Artillery Volunteers from 1871 to 1876, and was a JP for Derbyshire from 1899 until shortly before his death in 1927. He was a keen proponent of blood sports: Master of the Barlow hounds for 16 seasons between 1878 and 1900, he was also said to be a grouse shot of considerable skill. His favourite shooting locations were thought to be the Hallam and Stanedge Moors which, according to the Sheffield Daily Telegraph for 3rd August 1927, he owned until a month before his death.

At the time of the 1881 census, William III was living with his wife, Fanny, and infant son William, in Clarkehouse Road in Sheffield, but by 1891 they had moved to Beauchief Abbey (also known as Beauchief Hall), near Dore. The family now included William IV's younger siblings - Winifred, May, and Violet.

William Wilson Junior

The Skilled Shot Certificate pictured here was awarded to William Wilson junior at an event held by the Dore Rifle Club at Totley Rifle Range on 25th July 1906: he had made a score of 87 points (HPS 105 points), at 200, 500, and 600 yards with a Service Rifle. William Wilson junior (William Wilson IV) was the son of Club President William Wilson III. Three years later, on 1st July 1909, at Christ Church, Dore, he married Marjorie Milner, the daughter of William Aldam Milner of Totley Hall, one of the patrons of the Dore and District Rifle Club. The Sheffield Daily Telegraph for 2nd July 1909 noted that this was the first wedding at which the new church bells were rung.

The Chatsworth Rifles

William and Marjorie Wilson set up home at Horsleygate, in Holmesfield. The website for Horsleygate Hall, now home to the Moore family, suggests that William Wilson IV’s shooting prowess was put to good use in the First World War. It states that, in 1915, he joined the Chatsworth Rifles — the 16th Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters — which was raised at Derby by the Duke of Devonshire and the Derbyshire Territorial Force Association on 16th April 1915. He fought on the Western Front, and was taken prisoner on 27th March 1918 at Lagnicourt. He was then held at Karlsruhe prisoner of war camp, and repatriated on 29th November 1918.