JOSEPH SHEPPARD

Joseph was born in Hinton Parva, Wiltshire on 7th April 1883 to David and Ana Maria Sheppard and he was the fourth of their eight children. He attended Little Hinton National School but there is no record of when he was admitted. The only reference to him in the School Log is an entry for 30th October 1893 which states that ‘The following children having left the Village their names have been taken off the register - Joseph, David and Elizabeth Sheppard.’ Little Hinton school closed in 1927 when there were only 17 pupils remaining and in 1976 the building was converted for use as a Village Hall.

Joseph followed in his father’s footsteps and became a shepherd. By 1901, when he was 17, he was working as such, on Elm Tree Farm, Ashbury just over the border in Berkshire. He was living as a lodger with the farm bailiff, George Hall and his wife. His elder brother John was employed on the same farm also as a shepherd.

 By 1911 Joseph had already joined the Army, possibly in 1905, and it appears that he had served in South Africa before the outbreak, in 1914, of war in Europe.

On 22nd August 1914 he arrived at Le Havre and joined the 1st battalion Wiltshire Regiment on 5th September. What happened to him next is not clear because he is listed as having died of peritonitis on 18th September 1914, aged 31, at a Field Ambulance station. However rather than having a grave he is commemorated on a memorial which usually only occurs when a soldier’s body has not been recovered. Nevertheless his name appears on the monument at La Ferte sous Jouarre on the north bank of the river Marne.

Joseph probably lived only briefly, if at all, in Easton Royal. In 1911 his parents and four of his siblings were living in Upper Lambourn. However by 1915 his father’s name appears on the Electoral Roll for Easton with his address as no 4 Easton Royal so it may be that Joseph visited his parents while on leave from the Army.

Curiously, Joseph has the distinction of being commemorated on two village War Memorials – the other being in East Grafton.

The Wiltshire Regiment badge

East Grafton WWI memorial

No 4 today