Marylebone Rifle & Pistol Club was one of the many clubs which were inaugurated under the Lord Roberts scheme for civilian rifle clubs following the military experience of the Boer War.

The Club was founded in 1905 with the inaugural shoot in February 1906, and for the first two years, shot on Morris tube ranges both at Marylebone baths and in the open at the Marylebone Grammar School.

In 1907, due to the generosity of Sir Samuel Scott, Bart., the Club President and M.P. for St Marylebone, permanent accommodation was found in Harewood Avenue next to the goods yard of the Great Central Railway at St Marylebone. These premises provided an indoor 20 yards range, club rooms and accommodation which were to be the home for M.R.P.C. for the next 61 years. In August, 1967, British Railways (our landlords in Harewood Avenue ) informed the club that the land upon which the clubhouse stood had been sold to Westminster Council for redevelopment, as part of a large housing complex.

An exhaustive search was made for alternative premises and after many months, Brian Kett, a member of the M.R.P.C. and an architect by profession found alternative premises in the basement of an office block in Fore Street , Moorgate. He designed the facility which was completed in 1968 and has been the home of Marylebone Rifle & Pistol Club ever since. M.R.P.C. are one of the few Clubs started by Lord Roberts to have continued with an unbroken record.

The original purpose of the Club was training civilians in the art of shooting to be ready in case of a national emergency. In addition the Club has provided facilities for the Police to practice with their weapons, a service which was particularly helpful during the I.R.A. disturbances in this Country when certain of our Police were armed.

The two World Wars proved the value of the instruction given at the Club. It provided the Services with ready trained marksmen and many Small Arms Instructors thus justifying Lord Robert's original intention in forming the Club.

During its existence, the club has had many members who have represented their country at the Olympic and Commonwealth games as well as in many International competitions. Geoff Robinson was World Air Pistol Champion in 1979 .

The club held an open competition at Bisley in 1976 which was extremely popular and was asked by the British Pistol Club to help host their own competition in 1977 . As a result of the success of these competitions, the PISTOL AD competitions were started on the late May bank holiday in 1978 with the collaboration of other pistol organisations. From this beginning, the National Pistol Association was formed with Brian Kett as its first President. This series of competitions continued until the pistol ban and has been replaced by the PHOENIX meeting.

Prior to the pistol ban in 1997, the club was pre-eminent in the development and popularisation of Service and Police pistol shooting. Through the leadership of Vic Adams and David Rolfe, the American NRA PPC match was started in September, 1984. This became the ‘1500’ Match which spread throughout Europe . Sadly, after pioneering the competition, we are now just about the only country in Europe where it cannot be held.

Since the ban, the club has been active in shooting Gallery Rifle, (both centre-fire and small-bore) as well as muzzle-loading pistol.

The history of the club is being actively researched and hopefully, a more complete history will be published in the near future.

STOP PRESS

MRPC to leave St Alphage House on 28th March, 2008.

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2008 Bisley Dates have been confirmed by the NRA.

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PLEASE NOTE
Heritage Dates are also confirmed.

Full details on the Competitions page.

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