Giles Sheppard

Memorial: Downend - Christ Church

Regiment: The Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment

Medals: 1914–15 Star, British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Silver War Badge, Victory Medal

Rank and number: Private T/205399

Parents: William and Millicent (Nelly) Sheppard (nee Dix)

Marital status: Married

Home address: Home Address: 7 Unity Street, Kingswood, Bristol Lived: 1911 Census – Wood Villa, Soundwell, 1901 Census – Colston Street, Soundwell

Pre-war occupation: Boot Maker / Operator

Date of birth: 1885

Place of birth: Bitton, Bristol

Date of death: 10/10/1917

Buried/Commemorated at: No Known Grave – Commemorated Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium

Age: 32

Further information:

Giles was born in Bitton in 1885 (3rd Quarter) and was Baptised at Kingswood Holy Trinity Church on 12 July 1885. The son of a Boot Maker and the eldest child of seven with three sisters and three brothers. Giles worked as a Boot Maker from at least the age of 15 and in 1913 he married Margaret Josephine O'Hara. Their daughter, also named Margaret Josephine was born 15 June 1914 and was aged just 3 when Giles died.

Giles' Battalion (the 3rd/4th) mobilised to France in June 1917, transferred to the 62nd Brigade of the 21st Division and engaged in various actions on the Western Front. Giles was killed in action during the Battle of Passchendaele (31st July 1917 – 10th November 1917). It was a victory for the allies but at a cost to the British of around 250,000 casualties. Giles' body was never found and the Tyne Cot Memorial where he is remembered, is one of four memorials to the missing in an area of Flanders known as the Ypres Salient, which stretched from Langemarck in the north to the northern edge in Ploegsteert Wood in the south.

Throughout the records, there are variations to the spelling of Sheppard, and his mothers name has also been recorded as Milly, Millicent and Nelly (Married to William for 29 years at the time of the 1911 Census).

By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):

This information has been provided by Sarah Hands, Volunteer Researcher for the South Gloucestershire War Memorials Web Site.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
https://www.cwgc.org/
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/
https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/
Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Findmypast (Soldiers Died during the Great War, 1901 and 1911 Census etc), Researcher John Davis.