Sapper Bangs


ago, and the joke was that the only people who hardly ever hit the target were the 'Appellants': Ponsonby hit it once, I think and Blane never (or vice versa). We have a great laugh at them in consequence."

Nolan confirms that 'the men' won, the overall winner being a sergeant in the 20th who had left England with a 'Brown Bess' musket and had never seen a Minie rifle until after the Battle of Inkermann. As he records that Colonel Blane was 4th, it must have been Captain Ponsonby, supposedly the best shot in the army, who scored the 'nul points'. No wonder the lads had a chuckle.

Other competitions were organised to complement training and were treated as major events. A typical programme is currently displayed in the Crimean War Exhibition at London's National Army Museum, from which I've compiled the following details:

Regimental Meetings - between the 5 best shots in each Company

5 Rounds at 300 yds

1st Prize - 25lbs tobacco
2nd Prize - 20 lbs tobacco
3rd Prize - 15 lbs tobacco

Brigade Meetings - 5 entries per Battalion

5 Rounds at 300 yds

Prize - 25 lbs cigars

Army Meeting - 2 entries per Battalion

5 rounds per man comprising
2 at 300yds
2 at 200 yds
1 at 100 yds

Standing at 100 yds and 200 yds , Standing or Kneeling at 300 yds.

1st Prize - £5
2nd Prize - £2-10
3rd Prize - £2
4th Prize - £1-10
5th Prize - £1
6th Prize - £0-10

Targets - 6ft x 4ft, with 2 ft diam. Centre, containing 8 ins diam. Bull

Scoring: 3 pts for Bull, 2 pts for Centre, 1 pt for Outer.

Such meetings were a welcome relief from the routine of drills, routemarches and fatigues. The ingenuity of regimental officers was stretched in devising original activities to keep the men occupied - snowball fights, hare and hounds steeplechases, singsongs. The men themselves, like generations befoe and since, would have been happiest left alone to lounge around in their huts all and every day.

For the officers, activities went on much as before Christmas, although by now the amateur theatre groups had proliferated to the extent that every division and some regiments were performing plays. At regimental level there were seldom enough actors amongst the officers to make a complete cast, so NCOs entered what had previously been an exclusively officer preserve. Inevitably with several different companies playing on any one night comparisons were made and an element of competition crept in. Listen to the

The copyright of the article Sapper Bangs in Crimean War is owned by John Barham. Permission to republish Sapper Bangs in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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