William Ellicott

William Ellicott was six times champion of the Clay Bird Shooting Association, and was still competing well beyond the age of 70. In 1930, at the age of 74, he managed 88 consecutive “kills” during an NRA meeting at Bisley.

Ellicott was the son of a Cornish grocer and his first job was as an assistant to his father in his Launceston shop. In his early 20s, however, William set himself up as a local gunmaker, and later also made a unique brand of non-smoking cartridges. Ellicott moved to Wales after amalgamating his company with the Cardiff gunmakers, T. Page Wood, Chambers & Co. in 1894. By the outbreak of World War I, however, the partnership was dissolved and Ellicott was living at Richmond in Surrey working as a travelling salesman for a sporting ammunition company.

Ellicott served with both the Cornwall and Welsh Regiments, and at Bisley won many military competitions with both revolver and rifle. He won his first English Clay Bird Championship in 1900, and won it again in 1903, 1906-07, 1912, and finally in 1926 at the age of 70. He also won Irish and Scottish titles. In 1929, at the age of 73, he helped England beat Scotland and Ireland to win the triangular tournament at Inverness.