Peter Marchant

Peter Marchant learned to shoot as a youngster on his father’s Kent farm, and continued once he went to the Sutton Valence School in Maidstone. The school had a fine record at Bisley, with their students winning many revolver prizes over the years. Marchant also played in the school rugby XV. He took over the family farm in 1943 following his father’s death at the age of 54. Marchant competed in the free pistol event at the 1948 Olympics, but it would not be until the mid-to-late 1950s that he enjoyed his greatest moments in the sport.

In 1956 Marchant won both the National Small-bore Rifle Association (NSRA) Open, and British 50-metres Free Pistol Championships. The following year he won the NSRA .22 Pistol Championship, a title he retained in 1958. He married his second wife Jeanne in Johannesburg in August 1977; less than four weeks later Marchant died at a young age, like his father, of 56.