SHEPHERD George

Appears in the Worcester/Worcestershire Roll of Honour Book for army casualties located in Worcester Cathedral.

George Shepherd enlisted in the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force on 8^th April 1915 in Toronto, Canada. On his attestation form he gave his date of birth as 9^th April 1890 in Worcester, England, his occupation as a rancher and his next of kin as his mother, Elizabeth Shepherd, of Fernhill Heath, Worcester, England. At the time of his attestation George was 5ft 11ins tall with blue eyes, light brown hair and a fair complexion.

George went to France in July 1915 and was wounded at Passchendaele on 5th November 1917, suffering a gunshot wound to his left thigh and a compound fracture of his femur. After an initial operation on his left hip at a casualty clearing station, he was transferred to No 4 General Hospital in France where he underwent further surgery. After spending several weeks on the dangerously ill list he was invalided to England with his leg in plaster where he was admitted to the King George Hospital, Stamford Street, London on 30th March 1918. He was transferred from there to the Canadian Ontario (No 16) Military Hospital, Orpington, Kent on 5th June 1918 with a ‘large gaping wound on external surface left hip. Large amount of foul discharge.’

On 7th August 1918 he had an operation to allow free drainage of the discharge and the symptoms of septic poisoning are documented. George was placed on the seriously ill list on 15th August 1918, dying from his wounds on 2nd September 1918.

National Archives of Canada Reference: RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 8846 – 27