Provenance

Taken by the 13th Light Infantry at the military kraal, Nodwengu, near Ulundi, during the Anglo-Zulu War and presented to Queen Victoria, 1879.

This may be the shield given to the Queen by Lord Chelmsford on 3 September 1879, which she recorded in her Journal for that day: 'After luncheon, saw L^d Chelmsford, who brought me a Zulu shield, 4 ft. 6ⁱⁿ by 2 ft. 4 1/2ⁱⁿ, made of oxen hide, stiffened and prepared in a peculiar manner. This one, white, with a little black, belonged to the Reg^t of unmarried men and was taken out of the King's Shield House, in his Kraal, at Ulundi. Formerly, they always used to carry these large shields, and those who have no firearms, almost invariably do so still. But Cetewayo, finding them very inconvenient, in fighting with firearms, had them reduced to about 1 third of their size.' On 2 January 1880, the Queen recorded in her Journal that she had 'Walked with Beatrice by Barton & the Swiss Cottage [at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight], where we placed, in the museum, some of the assegais & shields, given to me from Zululand.' This shield may have been among them.

In 1879, British ambitions to create an imperial federation in southern Africa resulted in a series of armed conflicts with Cetewayo, King of the Zulu, whose territory lay between Natal and the Transvaal. Lieutenant-General Lord Chelmsford led the forces which invaded Zululand in January 1879 and who finally achieved victory at the Battle of Ulundi in July. Although shields of this kind were highly effective when used in close combat with stabbing spears, the 20,000 Zulu warriors who faced Chelmsford at Ulundi were unable to repel British firepower. Following the battle, Cetewayo was captured and sent into exile first in Cape Town and then in London.