Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A rare Great War September 1918 advance M.C., Somme M.M. group of five awarded to 2nd Lieutenant H. Shepley, Durham Light Infantry, late Manchester Regiment

Military Cross, G.V.R., the reverse privately engraved, ‘Lt. H. Shepley, 19th D.L.I., Sept. 16th 1919’; Military Medal, G.V.R. (4502 Cpl. H. Shepley, 11/Manch. R.); 1914-15 Star (4502 L. Cpl. H. Shepley, Manch. R.); British War and Victory Medals (2 Lieut. H. Shepley), minor contact marks, very fine and better (5) £2200-2500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals The Property of a Gentleman.

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M.C. London Gazette 1 January 1919:

‘This officer took part in the attack south of Zillebeke Lake on 15 September 1918. In a previous reconnoitre he led his platoon in the attack with great courage and was ever in the forefront of the fight. He took the enemy’s posts and consolidated them. The enemy afterwards counter-attacked but were driven off with loss and the line was completely established owing chiefly to his initiative, dash and cheerful influence. Throughout the whole engagement he set a fine example to his men.’

M.M. London Gazette 9 December 1916.

Herbert Shipley was born in July 1895 and was employed as a pay clerk at Stockport prior to the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914. Enlisting in the 11th Battalion, Manchester Regiment shortly thereafter, he landed in Gallipoli on 20 September 1915 and joined his unit in the firing line right of “Jepson’s Post”. Having then served in Egypt from January to July 1916, he was embarked with his unit for France, arriving on the Somme that September - his M.M. almost certainly stemmed from the Battalion’s attack near Mouquet Farm at the end of the same month, a protracted affair that resulted in over 300 casualties.

Returning home in May 1917 for officer training, he was commissioned in the 14th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry and returned to France in December 1917. But it was following his transferral to the 19th Battalion in early 1918, that he won his M.C. at Zillebeke Lake later that year, the unit’s war diary stating that he was ordered to advance to “Manor Halt”, taking the Ypres-Hollebeke Road in the right centre of our attack:

‘This platoon met with considerable opposition, the enemy apparently being in strength. After gaining their objective, this platoon was forced back some little way, but promptly returning to the attack, regained their objective and maintained their position. The fighting was heavy and a number of the enemy were killed. Most of the prisoners were taken here, and most of our casualties occurred. This platoon was reinforced by a L.G. Section from the Support Company.’

Shipley was demobilised in November 1919; sold with a file of research.