Leatherhead War Memorials : Pte William Charles Shepherd, 1st Bn West Surrey Regiment (Queens)

Liam Sumption found that the inscription on the War Memorial did not make sense when he investigated Private William C Shepherd among the records available to him. This page is presented as a combination of his work and the subsequent research in the hope that the issues are more easily followed ...

The records of the Queens show that he was born in Leatherhead and enlisted at Guildford though resident in Leatherhead at the time.

Soldiers Died in the Great War¹ records a different date of death: Liam had noted that Pte Shepherd was resident in Leatherhead when he enlisted at Guildford:

Name:   William Shepherd
Birth Place:   Leatherhead, Surrey
Residence:   Leatherhead
Death Date:   1 Aug 1916
Death Place:   France and Flanders
Enlistment Place:   Guildford, Surrey
Rank:   Private
Regiment:   Queen's (Royal West Surrey) Regiment
Battalion:   1st Battalion
Regimental Number:   G/6039
Type of Casualty:   Killed in action
Theatre of War:   Western European Theatre

The Parish Magazine of August 1917 recording the death of HAH Shepherd in action on 21st June of that year, refers to the death of his brother William Charles Shepherd 'killed not a year previously', on 14th July [1916].

As Liam wrote "So there is a conflict of evidence qbout the relevant date". The Parish Magazine, official records and the Town War Memorial all have different dates of death for him. The former Ladies War Shrine in the Chapel of Remembrance in the Parish Church states his month of death as July 1916.

In the further research now possible WC Shepherd was not found in the CWGC records. Knowing that there have been other cases of difficulties in finding records arising from variations in the recording of names, a likely match with the right service number was eventually, with the same date of death as in Soldiers Died in the Great War is W. Sheppard in what is believed to be an incorrect spelling of the surname:

SHEPPARD, W
Rank: Private
Service No: 6039
Date of Death: 01/08/1916
Regiment/Service: The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment) 1st Bn.
Grave Reference: II. E. 19.
Cemetery: HEILLY STATION CEMETERY, MERICOURT-L'ABBE

According to the CWGC: Mericourt-l'Abbe is a village approximately 19 kilometres north-east of Amiens and 10 kilometres south-west of Albert. Heilly Station Cemetery is about 2 kilometres south-west of Mericourt-l'Abbe, on the south side of the road to Corbie.

Historical Information: The 36th Casualty Clearing Station was at Heilly from April 1916. It was joined in May by the 38th, and in July by the 2/2nd London, but these hospitals had all moved on by early June 1917. The cemetery was begun in May 1916 and was used by the three medical units until April 1917. From March to May 1918, it was used by Australian units, and in the early autumn for further hospital burials when the 20th Casualty Clearing Station was there briefly in August and September 1918. The last burial was made in May 1919.

There are now 2,890 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. Only 12 of the burials are unidentified and special memorials are erected to 21 casualties whose graves in the cemetery could not be exactly located. The cemetery also contains 83 German graves.

The burials in this cemetery were carried out under extreme pressure and many of the graves are either too close together to be marked individually, or they contain multiple burials. Some headstones carry as many as three sets of casualty details, and in these cases, regimental badges have had to be omitted. Instead, these badges, 117 in all, have been carved on a cloister wall on the north side of the cemetery.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

He is not listed in the May 1915 issue of Leatherhead Parish Magazine among those serving.

July or August?

Liam looked at the unit's War Diary for that period and we can follow with modern aids:

The War Diary entry of the 1st Bn Queens for 1st August 1916 states that the unit was engaged in training under Company arrangements and was behind the lines near Albert.
http://qrrarchive.websds.net/PDF/QW00119160801.pdf

The Battalion had been heavily engaged between the 14th and 22nd July near Bazentin-le-Petit during which over 300 officers and men were lost:

15 July BAZENTIN
Officers: 5 killed, 11 Wounded
Other Ranks: 28 Killed, 52 Missing, 207 Wounded:
20 Sergeants and 59 other NCOs among these casualties
http://qrrarchive.websds.net/PDF/QW00119160705.pdf

17 July MAMETZ WOOD
3 Other Ranks wounded
http://qrrarchive.websds.net/PDF/QW00119160706.pdf 16th-17th

18 July MAMTEZ WOOD
No casualties
http://qrrarchive.websds.net/PDF/QW00119160707.pdf 18th-19th

19-22 July High Wood OR 5 wounded
http://qrrarchive.websds.net/PDF/QW00119160708.pdf 20th
http://qrrarchive.websds.net/PDF/QW00119160709.pdf 21st-23rd

Total Casualties 14-22 July:

                    Officers    Other Ranks
Killed            6                35
Wounded   15              262
Missing        1                66
TOTAL       22             362 [sic: should be 363]

PTE W. SHEPHERD.
We record with regret the death of Pte William Shepherd, Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment, who was wounded in action as recently as the 15th July. He was taken to hospital, where he has since died.

Deceased, who was 19 years of age, attended the Council School, Kingston-rd., Leatherhead, and on leaving was telegraph messenger at the Leatherhead Post Office, afterwards going to work for Mr. Jackson, fruiterer, Kingston-road, where was for nearly two years to the time of joining the Army.

He was an affectionate and willing lad, and was popular with all who knew him. He was the second son of Mr. and Mrs. H. Shepherd, 3, Oakleigh-terrace, Kingston-road. Mrs. Shepherd has received a thoughtful and kindly letter of sympathy, amongst others, from Mr. Jackson, deceased's former employer, in which he speaks most highly of his character and the esteem in which he was held. A brother of deceased is at present serving in France in the same regiment.

ROLL OF HONOUR. BRAVE SURREY MEN FALLEN IN THE WAR.
LEATHERHEAD AND DISTRICT
AUGUST.
SHEPHERD, Pte. William, Queen's R.W.S. Regt., died from wounds, second son Mr. and Mr H. Shepherd, 3, Oakleigh Terrace, Kingston-road, Leatherhead.

At present it would seem that the very young William Shepherd was wounded, probably on 15 July, was treated by the Casualty Clearing Station at Heilly, died on 1 August 1916, and was buried in Heilly Station Cemetery. The 7th July date of death on the War Memorial is incorrect.

His life

William was baptised at St Andrews, Earlsfield, Wandsworth, London on 18 September 1901 (the 1901 Census says he was aged 2 implying a birth year of about 1899). His father was Henry Albert Herbert Shepherd. His mother was Agnes Frances Shepherd née Smith.

In the 1901 Census William Shepherd was aged 2. His family lived at 62 Atheldene Road, Wandsworth in the ecclesiastical parish of St Andrew:

Herbert H Shepherd, age 30 Painter & Gas Fitter: born Leatherhead
Agnes Shepherd, age 23: born Rawalpindi India (British subject)
Herbert Shepherd, age 6: born Molesey, Surrey
Dorothy Shepherd, age 1: born Earlsfield, Surrey

In the 1911 Census William Charles Shepherd was a 13 year old schoolboy, born at East Molesey, Surrey, England.

He now had a younger brother, Frank, who by the end of the war would be the Shepherd's sole surviving son:

Herbert Henry Shepherd, age 39 Gas Fitter employed at the Gas Works: born Leatherhead
Agnes Frances Shepherd, age 34: born Rawalpindi, India
Herbert Henry Albert Shepherd, age 16: born East Molesey, Surrey
Dorothy Agnes Shepherd, age 11: born Earlsfield, Surrey
Frank Augustus Shepherd: age 7: born Earlsfield, Surrey

His parents appear to have married in 1894.
The death of his mother Agnes Frances Shepherd, age 68, was registered at Epsom in 1943.

Sources
1. Soldiers Died in the Great War: Regimental Records of the Queens, Queens Regimental Museum, Clandon Park, Surrey
2. WO95/2430 War Diary 1st Bn West Surreys, PRO Kew (TNA)

If you can add to this page please contact the editor
More research could be done into the backgrounds of William Shepherd's parents.
page created 9 May 2015: CWGC link updated 7 Nov 17: content 9 Aug 20

Leatherhead War Memorials - WW1 Pte William Charles Shepherd 1st Bn Royal West Surrey Regiment (Queens)

July or August?

Leatherhead War Memorials - WW1
Pte William Charles Shepherd
1st Bn Royal West Surrey Regiment (Queens)