The property of a direct descendant

The exceptional 1914 D.C.M. and ‘Aubers Ridge’ Dated Bar group of four awarded to Company Sergeant-Major Frederick Shepherd, 1/13th (Kensington) Battalion, The London Regiment

Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.V.R. (2084 L. Cpl. F. W. Shepherd, 13/Lond: Regt.-T.F.) with Second Award Bar dated ‘9th MAY 1915’, bar loose on ribbon as issued; 1914 Star (2084 L. Cpl. F. W. Shepherd, 1/13 Lond: R.); British War and Victory Medals (2084 Sjt. F. W. Shepherd, 13-Lond.R.) together with Bronze Memorial Plaque (Frederick William Shepherd) this spotted with verdigris and with remains of soldered fitments to the reverse, and presentation silver cased hunter watch, the inside front lid of the case inscribed ‘Presented to Sgt. Major F. Shepherd in recognition of Great Gallantry and gaining D.C.M. & Bar in the Great War 1914-1918, from Lady Jersey’s Own B.P. Scouts’, contained in fitted presentation case, edge bruise to the first, otherwise good very fine (6) £8000-10000

D.C.M. London Gazette 1 April 1915:

‘For gallant conduct on several occasions, especially on 19th November 1914, in rescuing a wounded man whilst under fire, and again on 4th December for voluntarily leading a search party over ground exposed to the enemy’s fire.’

Bar to D.C.M. London Gazette 5 August 1915:

‘On the 9th May, 1915, during the operations near Rouges Bancs, he made his way from the firing line for over 400 yards to the enemy’s breastwork with a telephone line. Before he reached his destination the line was cut. He crawled on to the Signal Section and started back laying another line, which he eventually got through. He was under a heavy fire the whole time; fourteen men had already been killed and wounded passing over the same ground. He subsequently carried two wounded men to a place of safety under a heavy fire. His conduct throughout the action was magnificent.’

Frederick William Shepherd was an employee of Messrs. Haigh & Sons Ltd., of Norwood Mill, Southall, in London, at the time of the outbreak of hostilities in 1914. He was keenly interested in the Boy Scout movement and actively assisted this work as Assistant Scoutmaster of the Norwood & Southall Troop. He was amongst the foremost recruits that responded to the call for men to join the new armies and, early in August, 1914, joined the 13th County of London Regiment (Kensington Rifles), Territorial Force. His elder brother, Walter Henry Shepherd, serving as a private in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, was killed on 21 October 1914. In a letter to his father after winning the D.C.M., Frederick wrote:

‘You should have seen the meeting between me and the General! I was stripped to the waist, shirt-washing, when he rode into the yard and asked for me. On hearing my name, I stood to attention, and he said, “Come out as you are,” and, all soap-suds, I went, and shook him by the hand. He had some nice kid gloves on at the time, so you can guess that it spoiled them. The words that he said to me were: “Well lad, I must congratulate you on winning the D.C.M., and may you live long to wear it, and also get a bar.” ’

What prophetic words they proved to be as within a few months of that meeting, he did indeed win a bar to his D.C.M., for gallantry near Rouges Bancs during the battle of Aubers Ridge on 9 May 1915. Shortly afterwards, on 1 July 1915, Frederick married Eveline, and upon the birth of their daughter on 3 July 1916, decided to commemorate his D.C.M.-winning exploits by christening her Dorothy Celia Marie. Sadly, Eveline died of diabetes in April 1917, leaving baby Dorothy to be brought up by her maternal grandparents. At the end of the war Frederick was transferred into the 17th Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment, a labour battalion used for digging canals in the U.K. from May 1918. Whilst at home on a month’s demobilisation leave, from 17 January 1919, Frederick suffered a seizure and was admitted to the local V.A.D. hospital, where he died from the ‘lingering effects of service to his country,’ on 4 February 1919. Little Dorothy was brought up in Southall close to her young uncle, Herbert, and her many cousins. She remained a spinster and died on 27 October 2000.

The group is sold with two original photographs, one of Shepherd wearing his D.C.M., the other a group shot of his Scout Troop before the war, and various related paperwork including a contemporary news cutting.