2-995-879 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Testimonial recently presented to Lord Churston at Newton Abbott, Devon, 1860. 'The designs were supplied by Messrs. Ellis and Co. of Exeter, and executed in massive silver by Messrs. Elkington and Mason, of Birmingham. The shield, designed in the Renaissance style, is divided into five compartments. The centre group illustrates Justice supported by Britannia; one of the side subjects illustrates the landing of William the Third, Prince of Orange, at Brixham, Torbay, from an original drawing; another subject represents our export and import trade; a third illustrates agriculture, represented by various operations and implements of the most improved and scientific order; and the fourth illustrates the fine arts, represented by allegorical figures of sculpture, painting, and music...In the frieze are introduced four portraits of the most celebrated characters in the history of the neighbourhood (Sir Francis Drake, Sir Joshua Reynolds, the first Lord Exmouth, and Sir W. W. Follett), and eight figures holding laurels significant of their wide-spread fame. The shield is three feet three inches in diameter, and its weight is five hundred ounces. Immediately under the central group are the Churston arms; on the opposite side are the Boiler arms...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.