Name
Hedley Albert (Eddy) Sheppard
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
90552
Royal Engineers
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Pirton School Memorial
Biography
Hedley Sheppard appears on the School War Memorial, confirming that he attended the school. Parish and census records suggest only one possible man of this name who could have served, and he was born on October 22nd 1880 to Alfred Thomas and Elizabeth Shepherd (née Walker). He would have been thirty-three at the outbreak of war. Baptism and census records list eleven children, but by 1911 one had died. In all it would appear that three brothers served and survived - refer to Harry Sheppard for more family details.
In 1911, the family home was around Little Green, but Hedley is absent and not listed in the Pirton census, so was presumably working or living away from Pirton.
He is recorded in the Parish Magazine of September 1915 as enlisting sometime during 1915, but before August, and serving in the King’s Royal Rifle.
The North Herts Mail of December 14th 1916 reports that Sapper ‘Eddy’ Sheppard was married, lived around Great Green and had been in France for fifteen months. It also adds that he was currently on leave in Pirton. Although listed as Eddy, he is believed to be Hedley as no alternative man has been found in parish or census records and Clare Baines, who has a tremendous amount of knowledge about Pirton history and its inhabitants, believes Eddy and Hedley to be the same man.
By 1918, he was recorded as Private 90552, Royal Engineers, with his home address as ‘near’ Great Green.
Acknowledgments
Text from the book ‘The Pride of Pirton’ by Jonty Wild, Tony French & Chris Ryan used with author's permission
