Nearly 9000 of the Volunteers in Major-General Higginson's Home District command underwent the annual Government inspection last Saturday.
The London Rifle Volunteer Brigade was inspected by the Duke of Cambridge on the Guards' ground in Hyde Park. The brigade was formed in line facing Park-lane, at half-past five, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Lord E. P. Clinton, the parade state showing a total attendance of about 600 of all ranks. The usual inspection of the line was followed by a march past in open and quarter column and at the double. Colonel Lord E. P. Clinton then put the regiment through a, long series of movements, which were followed up and closely watched by the Duke of Cambridge, who expressed himself well pleased with the drill and smart bearing of officers and men. The inspection, which lasted about an hour, closed with an advance in review order and Royal salute. The ground was kept by the 1st Life Guards.
The 3rd Middlesex Artillery Brigade was inspected at Wellington Barracks, by Colonel Baylay, R.A. Lieut.-Colonel Lord Truro was in command, and the attendance numbered nearly 800 of all ranks.
The 2nd Tower Hamlets Engineers were inspected by Colonel Walker, R.E., in Victoria Park, and subsequently at head-quarters, where the works constructed by the corps, consisting of redoubts, batteries, bridges, rifle-pits, &c., were viewed.
On the Horse Guards' Parade the 2nd City of London Rifle Regiment, under Lieut.-Colonel Vickers, was inspected by Colonel Phillips, Grenadier Guards; the muster, 677, was good, and the drill and bearing were excellent.
The 1st and 2nd Tower Hamlets Rifles, commanded respectively by Lieut.-Colonel Wigram and Sir Fowell Buxton, with a total attendance of nearly 1500 officers and men, were inspected in Hyde Park by Colonel Moncrieff, Scots Guards; and the St. George's Rifles, under Major Bird (447), and the 23rd Middlesex (London and Westminster) Rifles, under Lieut.-Colonel Routledge (744), were also in the Park, and were inspected—the former by Colonel Hall, Coldstream Guards, and the latter by Colonel Kent.
The Bloomsbury Rifles (19th Middlesex), with the fine muster of 874 out of 978, were officially inspected, in the grounds of the Foundling Hospital, by Colonel Lord Seymour, Coldstream Guards, Lieutenant-Colonel Smith Richards being in command.
At Wanstead Flats, the Customs and Docks Rifles, under Lieutenant-Colonel Kennard, M.P., also paraded for the same purpose.
The 3rd Surrey Rifles were inspected at Wimbledon, and the 8th Surrey at Lambeth Palace Grounds.
Besides the above, a large number of other corps were under arms; and the Civil Service Rifles went into camp in the Old Deer Park, Richmond.
On Sunday morning there was a church parade of the 3rd London and 6th Surrey Volunteers at St. Paul's Cathedral, Colonel Payne, Major Boyce, and other officers being in attendance, with bands.
Source: The Illustrated London News, July 1, 1882, p.19