3-017-067 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Elcho Challenge Shield to be shot for by English and Scotch rifle volunteers at the Wimbledon Meeting, 1865. Designed by Auguste Willms and made by Elkington and Co. '...the elaborate work of wrought iron...which Lord Elcho has presented to the National Rifle Association, to be competed for by the best English and Scottish marksmen at each yearly meeting on Wimbledon-common...has the merit of being very intelligible, as well a noble and appropriate in its conception. A medallion portrait of the Queen [Victoria], wearing her crown, occupies the centre; beneath this are two volunteer riflemen, the one English and the other Scotch, meeting with a brotherly clasp of their hands, despite the ancient remembrances of Flodden and Bannockburn, sculptured on each side. The groups in relief on each side of the head of her Majesty represent Queen Elizabeth reviewing her troops at Tilbury Fort, and Queen Victoria giving the prizes to her loyal volunteers at Wimbledon. Above the heraldic insignia, and other emblems of nationality, which separate the lower from the upper compartment of the shield, is seen the august form of Britannia, with the Lion at her back, while Peace and Plenty, with other allegorical personages, are seated in repose at her feet'. From "Illustrated London News", 1865.