EthiopiaShield with bullet hole from Ethiopia, Africa. Collected by Lieutenant-Colonel Yorke between 1860 and 1868. Given to the Museum by John Busby in 1940.

This conical shield was made by the Arussi, a clan of the Galla people of Ethiopia and Somalia. It is made of ox hide with silver boss and strip decoration. The rim is slightly upturned. Since the Galla traditionally fought on horseback with lances and knives, this rim may have been intended to catch spear points.

A Place in History

This particular shield was probably used at the Battle of Magdala in 1868. Magdala, nearly 400 miles from the Red Sea coast, was at that time the capital of Abyssinia (now Ethiopia). The conflict had been sparked by a diplomatic spat when Emperor Tewodros II imprisoned five Britons and some German missionaries. 16,000 British, led by Robert Napier, defeated the 9000 Abyssinians within three days, the fortress fell and Emperor Tewodros committed suicide.

A principal reason for the swift victory of the British was their firepower. At this time, the British were using a Snider rifle whose swiveling breech-load and centre-primed brass cartridges allowed a greater rate of fire than was capable with the old muzzle-loading Enfield models. Only three years after this battle, the Martini-Henry rifle was in widespread use, which was an even more efficient killing machine. In Ethiopia, shields continued to be made even after the introduction of firearms though they could do little to defend against them.

This shield has a Snider bullet hole in the bottom right-hand side. Although not immediately apparent, the bullet seems to have come from behind, the exit hole causing some splitting of the thick silver strip on the front. Since it was noted that the owner of the shield was killed in battle, could this bullet have punctured his shield as he was running away or could it even have been the bullet that killed him? Lieutenant-Colonel Yorke (who had been present at the action) brought the shield back to England. However, many more sacred and valuable items were looted by the British from Magdala and auctioned off to raise £5000 (equivalent today to more than £300,000) as reward for the troops