Gordon Strachey Shephard

Brigadier General Gordon Strachey Shephard, DSO, MC, MID (9 July 1885, Madras, India — 19 January 1918) was a British Air Force commander and sailor; the second son of Sir Horatio Hale Shephard (born 1842, Kensington, London — died 19 April 1921, Biarritz, France), a judge, and Lady Shephard, of 58 Montagu Square, London.

Shephard attended Eton (1898–1903) and Sandhurst. He belonged to the Royal Cruising Club, where his skills as a yachtsman would come in handy later in life. He was gazetted Second Lieutenant to a Regular Army battalion of the Royal Fusiliers on 28 January 1905. He transferred to the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) in 1912, the year of its formation.^{[citation needed]}

However, in July 1914, he used his skills as a yachtsman for a quite different purpose, to surreptitiously assist his friend Erskine Childers (who was executed by the Free State government in 1922 during the Irish Civil War) in landing a consignment of weaponry at Howth aboard Childers' yacht, The Asgard, on behalf of the Irish Volunteers, an action which, had it become known, would have resulted in, at a minimum, the termination of Shephard's military career, if not far more drastic punishment (i.e. imprisonment). His covert operations came to an abrupt halt when he and a companion were briefly detained by the German authorities at Emden, after they were seen taking photographs in a sensitive area.^[1]

On 22 August 1914, Shephard landed near Maubeuge for petrol, where he was given first-hand accounts of the fighting from French cavalry falling back from the Sambre canal. On 24 August 1914, he and Lieutenant I.M. Bonham Carter reported to the Staff that General von Kluck's right wing would swamp the British Army unless the retreat was continued. On 4 November 1914, Shephard narrowly escaped after the longeron of his BE2b, "487", was shot through.^[1] In 1917 Shephard was promoted to command the I Brigade Royal Flying Corps and advanced to the rank of Brigadier-General, which gave him greater opportunity to further the careers of able pilots.^[1]

Death

On 19 January 1918, aged 32, Shepard decided to visit the aerodrome at Auchel, where three of his squadrons were stationed. His Nieuport Scout "B3610" spun into the ground. He was lifted from the wreckage but died several hours later in hospital. He was the highest ranking officer of the flying services to be killed in a theatre of war in World War I.^[2]

Burial

A Chevalier of the Legion of Honour (Légion d'honneur), Shephard was interred in Lapugnoy Military Cemetery, Lapugnoy, Pas de Calais, France (plot VI, B15).^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Gordon Strachey Shephard extensive biodata
2. ^ Circumstances of Shepard's death detailed

Honours

• Mentioned in Despatches no fewer than six occasions during the Great War, most notably on 13 November 1916.
• A Chevalier of the Legion of Honour (France)

Legacy

• Gordon Shephard Memorial Prize Essay (PDF)

Other reading

• The Memoirs of Gordon Shephard (edited by Shane Leslie); privately published (1924)

External links

• "Roland Sargent Collection Journals Cross and Cockade, Great Britain", Journal of the British Society of World War I Aero Historians
• Profile of Gordon Strachey Shephard excerpted from "Bloody red tabs: general officer casualties of the Great War 1914-1918"
• Centre for World War I Studies (UK)
• Air Power Studies website (UK)