Ashburton Shield

The Ashburton Shield is an historic trophy for target rifle shooting in the British Isles. It is awarded annually to the winning team of VIII at the Schools' Meeting (previously the Public Schools' Meeting), held at Bisley by the National Rifle Association. The competition is open to teams of cadets from, predominantly, Combined Cadet Force units based in public and private schools.

History
The Ashburton Shield was presented by Lord Ashburton in 1861 for competition between the Junior Officers' Training Corps that were run within public schools. This remained the case until the 1948 merger of school cadet units into the Combined Cadet Force. The shield was first contested at the National Rifle Association's second Imperial Meeting. It was mentioned by Edward Walford in 1878 when he wrote of the Meeting, then at Wimbledon:

"These annual gatherings are attended by the élite of fashion, and always include a large number of ladies, who generally evince the greatest interest in the target practice of the various competitors, whether it be for the honour of carrying off the Elcho Shield, the Queen's or the Prince of Wales's Prize, or the [Ashburton] shield shot for by our great Public Schools, or the Annual Rifle Match between the Houses of Lords and Commons."

The runner-up team is awarded the Montague-Jones Challenge Trophy, which was first presented in 1947 by the OTC Officers Club in memory of Major Montague-Jones OBE TD, and eight NRA bronze medals. The third place team are awarded eight NRA bronze medals. The Allhallows Salver, presented in 1987 by Allhallows College, is awarded to the coach of the winning school.

The Public Schools' Meeting is considered the pinnacle of inter-school shooting in the UK, and British Pathé featured the event in multiple newsreels. It has been held annually, with the exception of 1915–18 and 1940–45 due to the outbreak of war, and 2020–21 when the meeting was placed in abeyance due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Epsom College hold the record for the most wins, at 15.

Notable winners include 2018 ISSF World Champion Seonaid McIntosh, who was a member of the 2013 winning team from Dollar Academy. McIntosh individually won the Schools Hundred competition.

Results by year
Scores in bold indicate a record for that competition format.

Performances
Schools in bold competed for the Ashburton Shield at the 2023 Schools' Meeting.