Frederick David Miles Sheppard 1894-1951

 

As you see today’s photo is of Frederick David Miles Sheppard and yes he is a boy! Philippa found this in an op-shop a few years ago and hadn’t had any luck in finding anything about Frederick so she asked me if I could help. What follows is what I eventually found, although I have no proof as to whether the person I found is this little boy it does seem quite likely.

 

After searching the BMDs in NZ & the UK and not having any luck at all I finally settled on Australia and this I think is where he was born:-

His first two names are in a different order but otherwise the date fits with the photo.

After that he was mainly referred to in the various sources as Frederick M Sheppard and when he joined the Army he used only Frederick Sheppard, the address he gave when he joined in 1915 turned out to be the same address as his father was living at when he died in 1911.

Frederick’s parents were David Arthur Sheppard and Matilda Brazier Kippin who were married in Bathurst, NSW in 1872. After finding that Matilda's mother's maiden name was Miles I'm even more convinced we have the right person to go with the photo.

Frederick married Mary Alice Kiss in 1914 at the R.C Church in Petersham, NSW.  On the 28 May 1915 he was a drover aged 22 yrs 4 mths when he joined the Australian Imperial Forces, 13th Battalion, he gave his birthplace as Picton and his wife as Mary Sheppard of 28 Sloane St, Summer Hill. During WWI he fought in France and was on duty in England before being demobilized in March 1919 and arriving home on board the ‘Cluny Castle’. Apparently after the Army verified his birth certificate he was 1 yr 1 mth older than he thought he was! Which all doesn’t seem to quite match up with his birth registration of 1894. During the war he was promoted to Sergeant and was awarded the DCM in 1918.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the war things didn’t seem to go too well for Frederick & Mary Alice and they were granted a divorce decree nisi on 22 Oct 1932 and the decree absolute on the 3 May 1933.

Perhaps that was when his DCM medal was lost because in 1937 he applied for a replacement:-

Finally, after he died in 1951, a letter to the Army to see if he had left a will with them during the war:-

There is no copy of a will in the Army papers, if there was one, and no reply to this letter.

One last note: one of Frederick’s six siblings was Alice Minna Sheppard (married to Abijah Murray) who on the 23 Mar 1911 was lost at sea with her four children when the vessel Yongala disappeared never to be seen again. Their other siblings were:- Arthur William 1872-1876; Charles Sydney 1874-1913; Lillie Matilda 1879-1941; Violet Blanche 1885-1940; Amelia A 1887-1920.

References: ancestry.com.au; Trove Newspapers.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the SHEPPARD family please do contact me. Contact by email is preferable but if you are going to leave a comment please don’t forget to include your email address.

Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz