41cm (16.2in) x 25cm (10in) x 12cm (4.7in)
Patinated bronze. Equestrian figure at the gallop with cavalryman modelled in stable jacket and pill box cap, raising a skewered tent peg on his lance. Titled and signed ‘Ellam’ and to the naturalistic base for William Ellam.
Tent pegging originated with the idea of a cavalry attack on an enemy camp wherein the assailants uprooted guide rope pegs at the gallop causing the tents to collapse. After Waterloo, the British cavalry adopted the lance as a weapon and converted several light dragoon regiments to lancers. When these were stationed in India, they encountered tent pegging as perfected as a sport by the Indian cavalry. In 1875 the 5th Royal Irish Lancers, who had taken up tent pegging at Sialkot, Punjab, gave a demonstration of the sport under the gaze of the Prince and Princess of Wales at the Gun Club, Hurlingham which was reported in the Illustrated London News. Thereafter tent pegging became a staple of the cavalry arm’s regimental sports days and at the ‘Feats-of-Arms’ which the Victorian public relished as popular entertainment.
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William Ellam (1858-1935) was born in Enfield Middlesex and was employed at the London Stock Exchange before becoming a popular illustrator. He was known for comedy postcards often featuring animals in human situations, such as his series of animal couples sharing breakfast in bed. Another popular line was a series depicting young ladies in military uniform. As a sculptor he produced a model of Sir Redvers Buller (1899) for the art bronze founders Elkington & Co at the start of the Boer War.