Joseph Sheppard Lasbury

Memorial: Kingswood - Holy Trinity Church

Regiment: Somerset Light Infantry

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

Rank and number: Corporal 9979

Parents: Joseph Sheppard and Mary Jones Lasbury

Marital status: Married

Home address: 122 Bird in View, Hopewell Hill, Kingswood, Bristol

Pre-war occupation: Bootmaker

Date of birth: 1880

Place of birth: Oldland, Bristol

Date of death: 12/08/1915

Buried/Commemorated at: Buried at Poperinghe New Military Cemetery, Belgium and commemorated on Kingswood Holy Trinity Memorial

Age: 35

Further information:

Joseph was born in Oldland Kingswood, the youngest of three sons of a general labourer. He served in the South African Campaign against the Boers (1899-1902) then left the army, and in 1911 was working in the boot industry along with his older brothers. In 1914 Joseph was serving in the Somerset Light Infantry based at Aldershot. He married Margaret Sheppard later that year on Christmas day and their son, Joseph Sheppard Lasby, named after his father, was born 6 weeks after Joseph senior’s death.

Joseph Sheppard Lasbury served with "B" Company, 6th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry and Died of Wounds on 12 August 1915 age 35. Joseph also served in the South African Campaign.

Joseph's battalion mobilised to France in July 1915 and on the 30th July were on the receiving end of an attack at Hooge during which the Germans used flame-throwers for the first time in the war, against the British troops in the trenches. Following on from this assault, the Somersets took part in trench warfare near Ypres from which the army suffered average losses of 300 men a day from sniping and shellfire. Joseph died of wounds at No 44 Field Ambulance station, 13 days after the Hooge attack. His death could have been either from injuries received during the attack or wounds from trench warfare. The New Military Cemetery, where Joseph was buried, was established in June 1915 adjacent to the casualty clearing centres taking casualties from Ypres battlefields.

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/