The Barry Hobbs Collection of Great War Medals

Three: Lance-Corporal E. G. Sheppard, 2nd Battalion, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), who was killed in action at Veldhoek, near Gheluvelt, during the First Battle of Ypres on 31 October 1914

1914 Star, with clasp (L-9734 L. Cpl. E. G. Sheppard. 2/The Queen’s R.); British War and Victory Medals (L-9734 Pte. E. G. Sheppard. The Queen’s R.) good very fine (3) £200-£240

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Barry Hobbs Collection of Great War Medals.

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Evelyn Gordon Sheppard was born in 1893 at Dunstable, Bedfordshire and attested for the Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment) at Shorncliffe, Kent in 1910. He served with the 2nd Battalion during the Great War on the Western Front from 4 October 1914. After participating in heavy fighting east of Ypres, between Ledeghem and Zonnebeke in mid October, his battalion moved forward towards Gheluvelt on 26 October, occupying a line in front of the Gheluvelt-Zandvoorde Road. The following day they recaptured lost trenches at Kruiseecke and then moved to occupy woods near Klein Zillebeke before moving on to Veldhoek and then Gheluvelt on 29 October. Fighting continued the next morning as the battalion was joined by the 1st Queen’s and occupied farms east of the Gheluvelt-Kruiseecke road. Heavy shelling then forced a withdrawal towards nearby woods on 31 October. The battalion suffered casualties of 11 killed, 45 wounded and 22 missing on 31 October 1914. Lance Corporal Sheppard among those killed.

In hindsight, the Battle for Gheluvelt on 31 October 1914 was of critical importance since Gheluvelt was on the Menin Road; and the Menin Road led straight to Ypres:
‘Here, in this unremarkable village, was fought a battle as vital as Waterloo and as bloody as Malplaquet. On the fate of Gheluvelt hung the fate of Ypres; and on the fate of Ypres hung the outcome of the War. Battalions of twelve infantry regiments were involved in the fighting, seven of them were in the tenuous line defending the south-east approaches to the village....
The German record scarcely mentions Gheluvelt, and no casualty figures are given. But the official monograph, which is rarely accurate or truthful, has this to say:
“The fact that neither the enemy’s commanders nor their troops gave way under the strong pressure we put on them, but continued to fight the battle, though their situation was most perilous, gives us an opportunity to acknowledge that there were men of real worth opposed to us who did their duty thoroughly.”
This is a sufficient epitaph for the men who fought at Gheluvelt.’ (The Mons Star by David Ascoli refers)

Lance Corporal Sheppard was the son of James Sheppard of 11 Ombersley Road, Bedford and, having no known grave, is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium.