Shooting

Arthur Conan Doyle, when he returned from the South African war, created a local riflemen club, the "Undershaw Rifle Club" (U.R.C.) which had 200 members.

In 1903, he organized a rifle-shooting contest in his country house, Undershaw, where his own team ranked second. Since then, each year, a "Conan Doyle Challenge Cup" is organized with a rifleman statuette and money to win.

Photos

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  Arthur Conan Doyle photographed in The Strand Magazine (june 1901)
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  The shooting range on Sir Conan Doyle's estate at Hindhead, Surrey. The novelist's son shooting under the guidance of his father's secretary (1906).
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  Private Arthur Conan Doyle No. 184343, Crowborough Company of the 6th Royal Sussex Regiment (1914). A note was added by Conan Doyle: All love, dear, from "Ole Bill"
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  Arthur Conan Doyle of the 6th Royal Sussex Volunteer Regiment (1914).
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  Arthur Conan Doyle (in civilian dress, standing up second from left) watching riflemen in Lewes (ca. 1914-1918).
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  Arthur Conan Doyle (in civilian dress, standing up inthe center) with riflemen in Lewes (ca. 1914-1918).
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  Arthur Conan Doyle (left) with Sydney Harris (ca. 1914-1918).
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  From left to right: unknown, Arthur Conan Doyle, Patrick Forbes (ACD's brother-in-law), Langton, Dennis and Colour Sargent Day. (ca. 1914-1918).

Conan Doyle about Shooting

• « I was practising how to turn a rifle into a howitzer. I fastened a large needle at the end of a thread to the back sight. When the gun pointed straight up in the air the needle swung down across the stock and I marked the spot. Then the idea was to tilt the gun slowly forward, marking advances of 200, 400 and so on in the range, so that you had a dial marked on the stock and could always by letting the needle fall across the correct mark on the dial drop the bullet within a certain distance. » (Memories and Adventures, 1923)

• « A post-African task was the building up of rifle clubs, for I was enormously impressed by the power of the rifle as shown in the recent war. A soldier was no longer a specialized creature, but every brave man who could hold a rifle-barrel straight was a dangerous man. I founded the Undershaw Club, which was the father of many others, and which was inspected by Lord Roberts, Mr. Seeley and other great men. Within a year or two England was dotted with village clubs, though I fear that few of them still hold their own. » (Memories and Adventures, 1923)

• « A pleasing souvenir of my work on Rifle Clubs is to be found in the Conan Doyle Cup, which was presented by my friend Sir John Langman, and is still shot for every year at Bisley by civilian teams. » (Memories and Adventures, 1923)

• «  To shoot for the pot must be right, since man must feed, and to kill creatures which live upon others (the hunting of foxes, for example) must also be right, since to slay one is to save many; but the rearing of birds in order to kill them, and the shooting of such sensitive and inoffensive animals as hares and deer, cannot, I think, be justified. I must admit that I shot a good deal before I came to this conclusion. » (Memories and Adventures, 1923)

Letters

• Letter to G. B. Burgin (1900)
• The War Office and Inventors (1900)
• The Lessons of the South African War (1 november 1900)
• Civilian Riflemen (27 december 1900)
• Civilian Riflemen (5 january 1901)
• Civilian Riflemen (9 january 1901)
• The Undershaw Rifle Club (1901)
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, called and examined (1903)
• Letter to the press about Rifle Competition (1903)
• Rifle Shooting as a National Pursuit (1905)
• Sunday Rifle Shooting (1906)
• Volunteer Training Corps (1914)

Articles

• The Great Boer War (1900)
• Some Military Lessons of the War (1900)
• Mr. Conan Doyle and High Angle Fire (1900)
• A British Commando (1901)
• Riflemen's Club. Sir A. Conan Doyle's Team (1903)
• Famous Novelist's Shooting Range (1906)
• The Contemptible Little Army (1914)
• How the Boer War Prepared Us for the Great War (1915)
• Turn a rifle into a portable howitzer (1923)
• Foundation of the Undershaw Rifle Club (1923)
• Rifle Shooting (1923)
• Blood Sports — Should They Be Abolished? (1928)

Fictions with some Shooting

• The Winning Shot (1883)
• The Green Flag (1893)
• The Last Resource (1930)

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• Sport
• Arthur Conan Doyle