Henry Davenport Shakespear, the great-grandfather of J.H.C. Shakespear, was born at Brookwood House, Bramdean, Hampshire on the 9^th of February 1786. He married Mary Louisa Caroline Tobin Muirson at St. John’s Church, Calcutta, Bengal, India on the 6^th of February 1812. Henry and Mary and 12 children, four sons and eight daughters! Henry John Childe Shakespear, the grandfather of J.H.C. Shakespear, was born on the 30^th of April 1814 at Allahabad, India. Henry Davenport Shakespear died on the 20^th of March 1838 at Calcutta. Mary Louisa Tobin Shakespear, hardy soul that she was, outlived her husband by 30 years and died in Richmond, Surrey on the 8^th of January 1868.

Figure 4. The Shakespear Family Tree, Henry John Childe Shakespear Branches.

Henry John Childe Shakespear produced two branches of the family tree as seen in Figure 4 above. In 1839 he married Jane Blanche Poe, the daughter of Robert Waller Poe. Henry and Jane had four sons and one daughter. One son, Muirson Shakespear, died in infancy at the age of 4 years. Jane Blanche Shakespear died on the 2^nd of June 1857 and about four years later Henry married again to another woman named Jane.

In 1863 Henry married Jane Boxwell thereby starting the second branch of the Shakespear family tree. Henry and Jane had a daughter and two sons, one of whom would become the father of the main character of this research, John Henry Childe Shakespear.

Young Henry appears to have spent his childhood and adolescent years in India probably steeped in the culture of the British Civil Service and the British Indian Army. On the 24th of November 1836 Henry was commissioned as an Ensign in the 25^th Regiment of Native Infantry and was assigned to the Political Department at the disposal of the Resident at Hyderabad.[2] Such a posting might indicate that his father was a member of the Political Department and had some influence in having son assigned to extra-regimental duties as a young Ensign.[3]

Ensign Shakespear actually served with his regiment until the 5^th of June 1837 when he took a leave of absence from the regiment to report to Hyderabad. On the 18^th of October 1839 he married his first wife, Jane Blanche Poe in Outacamund, India.[4] Henry and Jane had their first child, Henry Alexander Shakespear, on the 2^nd of December 1840. Henry Alexander was born in Aurangabad, Deccan, India. Their second son, George Robert James Shakespear was born on the 14^th of October 1842 in Secunderabad, Madras, India.[5]

On the 24^th of December 1846 Henry John Childe Shakespear was promoted to the rank of Captain in the 25^th Regiment of Native Infantry.[6] The 25th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry had been raised as the Lahore Punjab Battalion by the British East India Company. The unit was formed on the 8^th of June 1857 at Mian Mir in Lahore by Captain R. Larkins during the turmoil of the Sepoy Mutiny. The troops of the unit consisted of Sikhs, Punjabi Muslims and Dogras from other infantry battalions in the British Punjab.

Captain Shakespear served as a company officer in the regiment and life in India was rather quiet for a time. However, when the Sepoy Mutiny began in 1857, Captain Shakespear was appointed as the temporary commander of the Nagpure Irregular Cavalry.

The Nagpure Irregular Cavalry had been raised on the 11^th of September 1854 as part of the Nagpure (Nagpore) Irregular Force, which had one horsed field battery, one cavalry and three infantry regiments under command of a Brigadier.[7] The cavalry element, stationed at Sitabaldi[8] consisted of 4 British officers, 1 British surgeon, 3 risaldars (Majors), 6 naib risaldars (Captains), 6 jemadars (Lieutenants), 6 kote dafadars (Troop Sergeant Majors), 48 dafadars (Sergeants),1 nishan burdar (Standard Bearer), 6 trumpeters and nugarchies, 480 sowars (Trooper), and 6 bhistis (Water Carriers). The staff included 1 woordie major (Adjutant), 1 nukeeb (prompter), 2 native doctors, 1 trumpet major, and 6 pay dafadars. There were also attached 1 Persian writer, 2 lascars (Guards) when the regiment was stationary or 6 lascars when on the march, 1 chowdry (or chowdhury), 1 mutsuddy (Native Accountant), 3 flag or weigh men and 1 shop coolie. The force and its cavalry element did not mutiny and was used for local policing in the Nagpur district. Between January and June 1858 it saw some action against insurgents along the western frontier of the Sambalpur district, and patrolled the Chanda zemindaries. It was disbanded in 1861. The ethnic composition was Hindustani Muslims, as well as some Marathas, and Rajputs.

Captain Henry John Childe Shakespear was promoted to the rank of Major in the 25^th Bengal Native Infantry on the 21^st of December 1859. Although this was the date that his promotion was announced, his rank was antedated to the 20^th of July 1858.[9] On the 13^th of September 1859 Shakespear had a book published, which was entitled “The Wild Sports of India.” The book was published while he was still a Captain as the cover page of the book shows, since he was not yet aware of the postdating of his rank to July of 1858. The book dealt primarily with the breeding and rearing of horses and the formation of light irregular cavalry. Although he was an infantry officer, his command of the Nagpure Irregular Cavalry during the Indian Mutiny gave him a considerable amount of experience in the operations of such cavalry units. The title page and preface to this book are presented below. As can be seen on the title page, Shakespear noted himself to be a Captain and Commandant of the Nagpore Irregular Force at the time of publication of the book.

The Preface has been included here because the author of this research was impressed by its keen philosophical description of the need for both “skill” and “courage” in battle. As Captain Shakespear put it, “courage without skill will not avail in the time of danger, and men of great courage will, from being unaccustomed to scenes of peril, lose their presence of mind at such moments.”

The last nine lines of the poem are moving, showing Henry Shakespear’s faith in God and that God is with the soldier and ready for “his Master’s call.”

From the Shakespear family tree it will be noted that Henry’s first wife, Jane Blanche died in 1857. Coincidentally, Jane died during the first year of the Indian Mutiny, but no evidence has been uncovered during this research to determine if the fighting or terrible conditions suffered by the British at the time contributed to her death.

Major Henry John Childe Shakespear retired from the Indian Army on the 31^st of December 1861;[10] however, The London Gazette of the 24^th of June 1862 (page 3212) shows that he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel some six months after the entry in his pension records showed that he retired. It is most likely that the pension records reflect the date that he left his regiment and/or departed from India and was no longer carried on the pay roll of the regiment. He probably still was considered to be an officer in the Indian Army and therefore eligible for his final promotion until sometime after he arrived home.

Henry married his second wife, Jane Boxwell, in Carlow, Ireland on the 26^th of January 1863.[11] The 1881 Census of England and Wales shows Henry Shakespear, age 66, and his wife Jane Shakespear, living at the time at The Hylands Hotel at 3 Boscobel Road in Hastings. Living with them was their daughter Louisa, age 15 and their son Alexander, age 6.[12]

The 1881 Census of England and Wales
(The Family of Henry John Childe Shakespear)

Civil Parish: St. Leondards. City: Hastings. Ecclesiastical Parish: St. Johns.

The Shakespears also employed a cook and a house maid at the time of the 1881 census.

Henry and Jane continued to live at The Hylands Hotel until his death on the 23^rd of August 1884 at the age of 70.[13] His address at the time of his death was 3 Boscobel Road, St. Leonard’s-on-Sea, Sussex.[14] His occupation was shown as Lieutenant Colonel, Bengal Infantry.

Henry’s will was probated on the 29^th of October 1884. His former residence was shown as Rosslare, County Wexford, Ireland,[15] so presumably he lived there for a time after returning from India. This would also explain why he married his second wife in Ireland. His will proved at the Principal Registry by his widow Jane Shakespear of Petham House, Canterbury, Kent, the Relict, and Henry William Blake of Bryn-y-Gwalia Oswestry in the County of Salop, the Executors. Henry William Blake had been a Major General in Her Majesty’s Madras Army and presumably Blake and Shakespear were comrades while serving in India.[16] At the time of his death Henry Shakespear’s personal estate was valued at £135 16s 4d. In today’s money (2017) his estate would have been worth about $16,400.[17]

Henry Alexander Shakespear was the first child of Henry John Childe Shakespear and his first wife, Jane Blanche Shakespear. I think that this would make him the half-uncle of John Henry Childe Shakespear. Henry Alexander was born at Aurangabad, Deccan, India on the 2^nd of December 1840.[18] He entered Cheltenham College in August of 1854 and left the school in December of 1856.[19]

On the 28^th of November 1858 Henry Alexander was commissioned a Coronet in the 5^th Bengal Cavalry, apparently following the family tradition of serving in the Indian Army.[20] The regiment had been raised at Bareilly as the 7th Irregular Cavalry in 1841 as a result of the First Afghan War. Following the Indian Mutiny the regiment was renamed the 5^th Regiment of Bengal Cavalry.

Henry Alexander Shakespear was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in his regiment on the 29^th of March 1859[21] and on the 11^th of July 1865 he was promoted Captain. During 1864 and 1865 he served in Bhutan and was awarded the India General Service Medal with clasp [BHOOTAN].

Britain had sent a peace mission to Bhutan under Ashley Eden in early 1864 in the wake of the recent conclusion of a civil war there. The dzongpon (governor) of Punakha, who had emerged victorious after the civil war, had broken with the central government and set up a rival administration while the legitimate administration sought the protection of the governor of Paro and was later deposed. The British mission dealt alternately with the rival governor of Paro and the governor of Trongsa, but Bhutan rejected the peace and friendship treaty it was offered. Britain declared war in November 1864. Bhutan had no regular army and what forces existed were composed of fortress guards armed with matchlocks, bows and arrows, swords, knives, and catapults. Some of these guards, carrying shields and wearing chainmail armor, engaged the well-equipped British forces. The Bhutan forces chose a defensive posture during the war and took shelter in a fort.

The fort, known at the time as Dewangiri at Deothang was dismantled by the British during 1865. The British initially suffered a humiliating defeat at Deothang and when they recaptured Dewangiri they destroyed much in an attempt to compensate for their humiliation.

The Duar War (1864–1865) lasted only five months and despite some battlefield victories by Bhutanese forces the war resulted in Bhutan's defeat, loss of part of its sovereign territory, and forced cession of formerly occupied territories. Under the terms of the Treaty of Sinchula, signed November 11, 1865, Bhutan ceded territories in the Assam region and in the Bengal region as well as the 83 kilometers of territory of Dewangiri in southeastern Bhutan, in return for an annual subsidy of 50,000 rupees.

Captain Shakespear was an accomplished horseman, as one would expect an officer of Indian cavalry to be. On the 14^th of January 1873 he took part in Divisional games at Shumshabad and participated with great success in tent-pegging at the divisions Camp of Exercise.[22]

In 1879 Captain Shakespear was appointed to the rank of Brevet Major in preparation for his taking temporary command of the 5^th Bengal Cavalry on the 16^th of December of that year. The regiment at that time was part of the Cavalry Brigade stationed at Peshawar, prior to moving to Afghanistan. In May of 1880, one squadron of the 5^th Bengal Cavalry under Brevet Major Shakespear, formed part of the force under Brigadier-General Gib. This force marched from Pesh Bolak on the 18^th of May to disperse the hostile gathering of the enemy under Ghulam Ahmad, and on the 20^th of May it was engaged in the action at Mazina (Mazeena) Valley. For his part in the campaign Major Shakespear was awarded the Afghanistan 1878-1880 Medal and was mentioned in despatches.

Figure 6. The Afghanistan Medal, 1878-1880.
(Image from the author's collection)

On the 1^st of July 1882 Henry Alexander Shakespear was appointed Brevet Lieutenant Colonel while his substantive rank remained Captain. Then in 1883 he was promoted to the substantive rank of Major and in the following year he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.[23] On the 1^st of July 1886 he was promoted to the rank of Colonel while still serving in the Bengal Cavalry.[24]

Colonel Henry Alexander Shakespear died on the 11^th of July 1887 in Mean Meer, India. Mean Meer was the former name of the Lahore Cantonment when the British Indian Army was stationed there. It was located about 3 miles from the civil station that is now a neighborhood of the city of Lahore, Pakistan. Shakespear’s grave is at Lahore. He died at the age of 46 years, 7 months and 9 days.[25]

George Robert James Shakespear was the second child of Henry John Childe Shakespear and his first wife, Jane Blanche Shakespear, making him also the half-uncle of John Henry Childe Shakespear. George was born on the 14^th of October 1842 in Calcutta, West Bengal, India.[26]

On the 7^th of September 1860 George Robert James Shakespear was commissioned a Coronet on the General List of the Bengal Army and on that same date he was posted to the 20^th Hussars.[27] After serving less than a year with the 20^th Hussars, he was posted to the 2^nd Bengal Cavalry in 1861, thereby joining the Indian Army in which so many of his relatives had served and would serve, albeit for a short time. The name of this regiment would be changed to the 2^nd Regiment of Bengal Cavalry during the year in which Coronet Shakespear was assigned to it.[28] On the 30^th of July 1862 George was posted back to the 20^th Hussars. The reason for this rapid reposting is unknown. It can only be surmised that the 2^nd Regiment of Bengal Cavalry was under strength during that period and George filled in until another officer could be permanently assigned.

Figure 7. An Officer of the 20^th Hussars, circa 1860.
(Image from the author's collection)

George Shakespear received orders appointing him to the Bengal Staff Corps on the 17^th of April 1865 and on the 20^th of June 1865 he joined that Corps.[29] He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on the 22^nd of May 1866[30] and to the rank of Captain on the 7^th of September 1872.[31]

Captain Shakespear was posted to the office of the Deputy Assistant Adjutant General, Bengal on the 27^th of January 1876. This posting appears to be the first in a series of postings and promotions that eventually would see George achieve general officer rank.

On the 7^th of September 1880 George Shakespear was promoted to the rank of Major in the Bengal Service Corps and on the 30^th of November 1881 he left the office of the Deputy Assistant Adjutant General, Bengal to be assigned to staff duties in preparation for active service in the Sudan. On the 15^th of June 1885 he was appointed a Brevet Lieutenant Colonel in the Bengal Service Corps and served in the Sudan as the Director of Transport for that Corps. He was mentioned in the despatches of General Lord Wolseley for his service during that campaign. On the 26^th of August 1885 The Times published Lord Wolseley’s despatch which he had written from Cairo to the Secretary of State for War. In that despatch Lord Wolseley indicates that Shakespear was “deserving of special mention for his service in the Sudan while performing his duties as the Senior Transport Officer, Assistant Commissary General, Transport Branch.” Brevet Lieutenant Colonel G.R.J. Shakespear also was awarded the Egypt Medal 1882 with clasp [SUAKIN 1885] and Khedive’s Star for his service during the Sudan campaign of 1885.

Figure 8. The Egypt Medal and Khedive’s Star.
(Image from the author's collection)

On the 7^th of September 1886 Brevet Lieutenant Colonel G.R.J. Shakespear was transferred to the Indian Service Corps and was promoted to the substantive rank of Lieutenant Colonel. On the 15^th of June 1889 he was promoted to the rank of Colonel in the Bengal Staff Corps and on the 25^th of October of 1890 he was appointed Assistant Adjutant General, Bengal.

Colonel George Shakespear again saw active service in 1891 when he served on the North West Frontier of India as the Assistant Adjutant General of the Hazara Field Force in the Black Mountains. He was mentioned in despatches (G.G.O. 816 of 1891) and received the India General Service Medal 1854-1895 with clasp [HAZARA 1891].

Figure 9. India General Service Medal 1854-1895 with clasp [HAZARA 1891].
(Image from the author's collection)

On the 27^th of September 1899[32] Colonel G.R.J. Shakespear was promoted to the rank of Major General in the Indian Army and on the 25^th of October 1902 he was placed on the unemployed Supernumerary List on the 15^th of October 1902.. In 1911 he was residing at 9 Parklands, Oakholm, Surbiton, Surrey.[33] He died on the 2^nd of September 1926, almost aged 84 years, after a successful military career spanning 42 years.

William Henry Sullivan Shakespear, the fifth child and third son of Henry John Childe Shakespear and his first wife Jane Blanche Shakespear, was born in Madras, India on the 25^th of September 1849. He too would be the half-uncle of this narratives main character, John Henry Childe Shakespear.

Unlike most male members of the Shakespear family for generations before, William entertained neither military nor political ambitions. He was of a pacific temperament, a man for the quiet life, unassertive in appearance and purpose. He was fond of outdoor life and it was no surprise to family or friends when, on leaving Bromsgrove School close to the family home in the Midlands, he sailed for India to join the Imperial Forestry Service. He exhibited one distinct family trait, however; an inclination to marry strong women. On the 7^th of January 1878 he followed that inclination to the altar of St. Peter’s Chapel in Bishop’s College, Calcutta. His wife, Anne Caroline Davidson (1856-1941), known throughout her life as Annie, was a woman of considerable beauty, regal bearing, and unshakeable determination. William and Annie had three sons; William Henry Irvine Shakespear (1878-1915), George Albert Shakespear (1880-1961) and Henry Talbot Shakespear (1882-1965).[34]

William stayed on in India and gained some prowess as a tiger hunter, earning for him the nickname of “Tiger Henry.” “Tiger” Shakespear died on the 19^th of May 1941 in Sorrington, Sussex.[35] His residence at the time of his death was Chantry Cottage in Sorrington. I will wager that there were many tiger skins and rugs on the walls and floors of his house.

Figure 10. A Member of the British Raj Tiger Hunting in India.
(Photograph courtesy of Wikipedia)

Alexander Blake Shakespear was the first child and first son of Henry John Childe Shakespear and his second wife Jane Boxwell. He was born on the 27^th of May 1874 in Wexford, Ireland[36] and was the eldest uncle of J.H.C. Shakespear. In 1905 Alexander became the secretary to the Upper India Chamber of Commerce and he held that position until 1912. On the 3^rd of January 1913 he was made a made a Companion of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire (C.I.E.) for his service as the Secretary to the Upper India Chamber of Commerce.

In 1922 Alexander Blake Shakespear married Clare Josephine O’Brien, the second daughter of Herbert O’Brien of Calcutta.[37] At the time of their marriage Alexander was a director of Begg, Sutherland and Co., Cawnpore, India. He remained a merchant for the remainder of his life and traveled extensively. The ship’s manifest of S.S. Strathnaver shows him sailing from Southampton bound for Bombay on the 19^th of November 1946. The passenger list shows him as a 75-year old merchant. On the 29^th of December 1948 he sailed from Liverpool aboard S.S. Warwickshire bound for Colombo, Ceylon. The passenger list shows him as a 78-year old merchant with residence at the Belmont Hotel in the U.K.

Alexander Blake Shakespear died at The Joseph Fraser Nursing Home in Colombo, Ceylon on the 24^th of April 1949. His obituary listed him as late of Begg, Sutherland and Co. of Cawnpore, India and his residence was shown as The Galle Face Hotel in Colombo, Ceylon.

Figure 12. The Joseph Fraser Nursing Home, Colombo, Ceylon.
(Photograph courtesy of Wikipedia)

Alexander’s will was probated in England and his effects were listed at £42,848 17s 1d. Obviously he had done well as a merchant and probably held a rather high position in the Begg, Sutherland firm. The Galle Face Hotel, as shown in Figure 13 below, was rather an exclusive residence at the water’s edge in Colombo. His effects in 2017 dollars would have amounted to about $1,782,500.[38] Given that his wife was a duchess from a prominent family in Scotland, it is possible that much of his estate came from his wife’s family.

Figure 13. The Galle Face Hotel, Colombo, Ceylon.
(Photograph courtesy of Wikipedia)

Arthur Leetham was the husband of Louisa Caroline Shakespear (1866-1951), the aunt of John Henry Childe Shakespear. Leetham was born on the 1^st of March 1859 and was educated at King’s College School. In 1877 he joined the West Norfolk Militia and on the 17^th of April 1880 was commissioned into the 20th Hussars and was promoted to Lieutenant on the 8^th of March 1881 and to Captain on the 9^th of September 1885. He served with the 20^th Hussars in Egypt during the Suakin 1885 campaign and in the Egyptian Frontier Field Force, 1885-86. In 1886 he exchanged to the 13th Hussars and in 1898 exchanged as a Captain to the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers,[39] being advanced to Major on the 18^th of October 1902 and to Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel in 1903. For the years 1900-1902 he was Private Secretary to Lord Raglan, the Under Secretary of State for War and for the war years, 1914-1918, he was attached to the personal staff of the Secretary of State for War. During 1914-1916 he served for some time as personal assistant to Lord Kitchener. He was created a Knight in 1914 and was awarded the C.M.G. in 1918 and K.C.V.O. in 1924. He was for sometime the Vice-President and Secretary of the Royal United Service Institution, Vice-President of the Society of Nautical Research and Vice-President of the Society of Yorkshiremen in London and of the Yorkshire Society. Lieutenant-Colonel Leetham died on the 13^th of January 1933.

In addition to the K.C.V.O and C.M.G. Leetham’s decorations and medals included The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knight of Grace; the Egypt 1882-89 Medal with clasps [THE NILE 1884-85] and [SUAKIN 1885]; the 1902 Coronation Medal and the Khedive’s Star 1884-6.

J.H.C. Shakespear’s aunt became Dame Louisa Caroline Leetham by virtue of her marriage to Sir Arthur. Louisa was residing at 16 Han Road in Kensington, London when she died on the 15^th of March 1951. Her effects were listed as £2,992 6s 2d, the equivalent of about $106,700 in 2017 dollars.

William Henry Irvine Shakespear was born on the 29^th of October 1878, the son of J.H.C. Shakespear’s half-uncle, William Sullivan Shakespear and his wife Annie Caroline Shakespear. This, I believe would make W.H.I. Shakespear the half first-cousin of J.H.C. Shakespear.

William Henry Irvine Shakespear was educated at King William’s College near Castletown on the Isle of Man. He entered the college in January 1894 along with both of his brothers and was made a Præpositor in 1895.[40] His sports included Cricket XI and Football XV in 1896. He took 10^th place in 1896 for the Royal Military College at Sandhurst.[41]

William was commissioned from the Royal Military College on the 22^nd of January 1898 as a 2^nd Lieutenant in the 1^st Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment with a view to an appointment to the Indian Staff Corps, again following in the footsteps of some many of his relatives who served in the Indian Army. Following his commission he was unattached for a while and then subsequently posted to the Indian Staff Corps.

Figure 15. Lieutenant William Henry Irvine Shakespear, the Devonshire Regiment.
(Photograph courtesy of Wikipedia)

On the 21^st of March 1899 William was transferred to the 17^th Bengal Cavalry from the Indian Staff Corps and on the 4^th of November 1899 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. On the 6^th of March 1901 he was posted as Assistant District Officer in A Ward, Bombay at the time that the plague was rampant in that city and over 100,000 people had died. As the death toll mounted, Shakespear and one or two of his fellow officers led a massive rat-killing campaign. In a week they had killed tens of thousands of the rodents and were instrumental in putting an end to the catastrophe that had struck Bombay.

Lieutenant Shakespear rejoined his regiment at Rawalpindi in April of 1902 and he performed regimental duties until the 27^th of October 1904 when he was posted to the Consul, Bunder (Bander) Abbas in Persia as a political staff officer. This posting came as a result of his application to transfer to the Viceroy’s Political Department.

In 1904, while at the Consul at Bundar Abbas, he undertook a major expedition, driving his Rover from the Persian Gulf to the UK in 1907 - an incredible accomplishment at a time when cars were in their infancy.

William’s assignment to the Consul in Persia was the start of his rather short career in the Political Department. He was promoted to Captain in the Indian Army on the 22^nd of January 1907 while serving in the Political Department and on the 9^th of October 1908 he was appointed to be His Majesty’s Consul at Bunder Abbas, with Consular jurisdiction in Shamilat, Lingah, and the Shibkoh ports, Minab and the coast of Persia eastwards as far as Gwetter, and in all the islands belonging to Persia in the eastern part of the Persian Gulf. This was a rather vast territory to be administered by a Captain in the Indian Army.

Captain William Shakespear was one of the last Victorian explorers - nothing daunted him and the more difficult the task the more pleasure he derived from carrying it out. He was a talented linguist, fluent in six languages, a pioneering explorer, accomplished photographer, negotiator, horseman and sailor - an all-round man of action.

In 1909 Shakespear moved to Kuwait as Political Agent and it was there that his love of desert travel developed. He took advantage of every opportunity available to him to explore and document the areas he found himself in and from 1909 he made seven expeditions into Eastern and Central Arabia, culminating in his 1914 crossing of the Arabian Peninsula from Kuwait to Suez via Riyadh. Over two-thirds of the distance travelled during Shakespear's final journey was through areas previously unexplored by westerners and we have Shakespear to thank for mapping large areas of the Arabian Peninsula.

Captain Shakespear was a keen photographer and would record his desert explorations – his photographs are among the best known early images of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, part of an important collection of images from a bygone era including the first photograph of Abdul Aziz ibn Abdulrahman Al-Saud (Ibn Saud), who later became the King and founder of modern Saudi Arabia.

In 1910, Shakespear was the first westerner to meet Ibn Saud and the two men formed an enduring friendship, with Shakespear providing an important link between Ibn Saud and the British Government and playing a significant role at a time when the political map of the Middle East was being shaped. Captain Shakespear was a keen supporter of the Arab cause and if history had followed a different course perhaps it would have been Shakespear and Ibn Saud who would have gone on to achieve what was left to Lawrence and the Hijaz Army to accomplish.

Captain Shakespear often combined political business with exploration and in the years following their first meeting he would meet with Ibn Saud to discuss the politics of the region and the role of the British Government. On the 2^nd of January 1914 he transferred from the Infantry Branch of the Indian Army to the Supernumerary List on completing ten years in Civil Employ.[42] In late 1914, after a visit to the U.K., Shakespear returned to Kuwait on special deputation to Ibn Saud - his orders to persuade Ibn Saud to become Britains ally. In 1915, Ibn Saud's army went into battle against the army of Ibn Rashid - Shakespear, despite Ibn Saud's protests, stayed as an observer and tragically met his death at the Battle of Jarab, Ibn Saud was deeply saddened by the loss of his friend's life and when asked later in life if he could name the greatest European he had ever met, he replied without hesitation 'Captain Shakespear'. Although virtually unknown in the U.K., Shakespear is held in high regard in Saudi Arabia and his life is celebrated to this day. Undeniably, the friendship shared by Ibn Saud and Captain Shakespear benefited not only those who followed Shakespear into the deserts of Arabia but British interests as a whole.

Before closing out the tale of the life of Captain William Henry Irvine Shakespear it would be of interest to consider this little known first-hand account that the British Agents in Bahrain garnered by chance, regarding his death.

Captain William Henry Irvine Shakespear is an enigmatic figure in the history of Anglo-Saudi relations. Although he was one of the youngest Political Agents to serve in the Gulf, he is more famed for his explorations and photography of the Arabian desert, as well as his close relationship with ‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān Āl Sa’ūd (Ibn Sa’ūd) as has been indicated above. In particular, much legend and romanticism has developed surrounding his life and death at the Battle of Jarrāb.

On the12th of December 1914, Shakespear left Kuwait on a mission to offer Ibn Sa‘ūd a treaty of alliance with the British. He reached Ibn Sa‘ūd’s camp at Khafsah after a nineteen-day journey over three hundred and thirty miles of desert terrain. On the 4^th of January 1915, Shakespear sent a letter to the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf at Bushire, Percy Zachariah Cox, detailing the political situation in Najd and enclosing a rough translation of the treaty agreement between himself and Ibn Sa‘ūd, confirming that his mission had been a success.

With a strong spirit for adventure and exploration, as well as the need to form bonds with local rulers, gain intelligence and solidify British influence, Shakespear had previously formed a close relationship with Ibn Sa‘ud. As a result, he chose to stay on with Ibn Sa‘ūd, accompanying him on his expedition against the Banī Shammar tribe whose forces were loyal to Ibn Sa‘ud’s enemy, Ibn Rāshid (Sa‘ūd bin Sāliḥ Āl Rashīd).

Khālid bin Bilāl’s Account of the Battle of Jarrāb

On the morning of the 24^th of January 1915, a battle broke out at Jarrāb, close to al-Zilfī, which culminated in the death of Shakespear along with many others on both sides.

Figure 17. Official account of Shakespear's death, as it appeared in the 'Report on the Najd Mission 1917-1918' (IOR/R/15/1/747, f 25r).

Describing the Battle of Jarrāb in his book about Ibn Sa‘ud, the Lebanese Arab-American writer and intellectual, Amīn al-Riḥānī, claimed that Shakespear ‘rode in the army of Ibn Sa‘ūd’. According to Harry St. John Philby he ‘took part in the battle […] directing the fire of the Wahhabi guns’ and ‘was killed in their charge’.

However, a first-hand eye-witness account by one of Shakespear’s servants, gathered by the British by chance, gives a different view.

On the 20^th of May 1915, Khālid bin Bilāl walked into the British Agency at Bahrain to request assistance in returning to his home at al-Zubayr, Iraq. He had been Shakespear’s private cook on his mission to meet Ibn Sa‘ūd and had escaped capture following the Battle of Jarrāb, which he witnessed. His first-person testimony was recorded by Terence Humphrey Keyes, Political Agent at Bahrain.

According to his account, Ibn Sa‘ūd and his son Turkī requested that Shakespear wait for them at Qaṣīm or al-Zilfī and not proceed to the battle. Shakespear – who he refers to as ‘Sahib’ – refused, saying that it would be ‘dishonourable’ for him to turn back.

The following morning at 6 a.m., Ibn Rashīd’s troops were sighted and within two hours the enemy was rapidly approaching. Ibn Sa‘ūd’s forces ‘dug ditches at a distance of about five-hundred yards behind the fighting’ and ‘all the kit, tent[s] and all sorts of luggage [were] loaded on camels which were made to sit in the ditches along with Shakespear’s servants, including Khālid bin Bilāl.

Shakespear then proceeded towards the battle on camelback. He dismounted and went on to a mound with his camera and took photographs. Amīn al-Riḥānī, too, had attested to Shakespear carrying a camera amongst his luggage. Ibn Sa‘ūd ordered a general attack. The enemy however had superior cavalry and more men recounts Khālid bin Bilāl, and soon dispersed [Ibn] Saud’s army, causing a complete rout.

It was at this point that Khālid bin Bilāl lost sight of Shakespear. As they fled… [t]he enemy plundered everything they could lay hands on. Many men were killed on both sides. Everybody saved his life as best he could. After two hours the fighting was over and Ibn Rashīd’s forces, the Banī Shammar, took him prisoner.

Khālid bin Bilāl spent two nights in captivity before he managed to slip away. Hiding under a bush, he listened to his captors speaking about the battle and learned of Shakespear’s death. At first Shakespear had ‘received a wound in his right elbow and afterwards was killed by two bullets – one in the head and the other in the back.

When Bilāl returned to the battlefield, he recounts that he went round the dead bodies and recognized the corpse of Captain Shakespear. Everything had been stripped off him. He continued: “I found marks of three bullets on his body – one in his right arm, one at the back of the head and the third in the groin on the right side. I saw him twenty days after his death”.

This account by Khālid bin Bilāl helps to shed further light on the event of the Battle of Jarrāb and Captain Shakespear’s involvement in it. In spite of his death at the age of thirty-seven, the mission was successful as Ibn Sa‘ūd signed the Anglo-Saudi Treaty on the 26^th of December 1915 along the lines of Shakespear’s draft.

Detailed information regarding the life of Captain William Henry Irvine Shakespear’s life can be found in the book entitled “Captain Shakespear” by H.V.F. Winstone (1976).[43] The book contains numerous bits of information, which in addition to describing his service in the Middle East in detail, provides considerable biographical information and bits of human interest regarding his life. Some of this information is outlined below.

Figure 18. The Cover Page and Table of Contents of “Captain Shakespear” by H.V.F Winstone.
(From a copy of the book in the author's collection)

· His old school, King William’s College, recorded his final deed on a plaque:

Henry Talbot Shakespear was born on the 2^nd of May 1882 in Mooltan, Bengal, the third son of William Henry Sullivan and Annie Caroline Shakespear. Like his brothers William and George, he entered King William’s College in January of 1894, but as a Day Boy rather than a Boarder. He was a Præpositor in 1899 and left the college at Christmas of 1899 to enter the Royal Military College at Sandhurst in 1900. He was appointed a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Indian Staff Corps on the 8^th of January 1901[46] and was placed on the Unattached List for a short while and then served with the 93^rd Highlanders in 1901 and 1902 until the 12^th of March 1902.[47] He joined the 12^th Cavalry, Indian Army as a squadron officer on the 1^st of August 1902 and on the 6^th of July 1903 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant[48] and then to Captain in the 12^th Cavalry on the 8^th of January 1910.[49]

The 12^th Cavalry Regiment of the Indian Army had been raised by Captain P.R. Hockin at Lahore, Punjab as the 2^nd Regiment of Sikh Irregular Cavalry in 1857. In 1861 it became the 12^th Regiment of Bengal Cavalry, in 1901 the 12^th Bengal Cavalry and in 1903 the 12^th Cavalry.[50] Henry Talbot Shakespear remained with the regiment throughout the Great War of 1914-1918. On the 11^th of December 1913 he married Winifred Constance Baird (1883-1954) in Calcutta, Bengal. Henry and Winifred had a son, Richard Harry Baird Shakespear (1917-1943).

At the start of the Great War in 1914 the 12^th Cavalry was stationed at Fyzabad, having arrived from Allahabad on the 16^th of December 1913. The regiment consisted of two squadrons of Sikhs, one squadron of Dogras and one squadron of Punjabi Musalmans. Prior to the outbreak of war the 12^th Cavalry was inspected by Major General G.A. Cookson, commanding the Lucknow (Cavalry) Brigade on the 23^rd of January 1914. Major General Cookson reported that in terms of general efficiency the:

“British officers [were] keen, well trained above the average in professional qualifications. Indian officers well educated, smart and well trained. Decentralisation is properly observed. The squadron commanders, who are an exceptionally able and smart lot of officers are allowed a free hand. Interior economy very well looked after. Fit in every respect for war.[51]

Figure 19. Officers of the 12^th Cavalry, c. 1914.
(Photograph courtesy of Wikipedia)

The 12^th Cavalry saw much action during the war under the control of many different headquarters as indicated here:

The 12th Indian Division was formed in March 1915 from units of the British Indian Army. It formed part of the Tigris Corps, for service during the Mesopotamia Campaign. The Division arrived in Mesopotamia in April 1915 and remained there until it was broken up in March 1916. The Division's brigades remained in Mesopotamia as independent formations until forming part of the 15th Indian Division in May 1916. During its short existence it fought in a number of actions including the Battle of Shaiba between 12^th and 14^th of April 1915, the Battle of Khafajiya between the 14^th and 16^th of May 1915 and the Battle of Nasiriya between 5^th and 24^th of July 1915, where 400 British and Indian soldiers were killed in the battle and up to 2,000 Turkish Soldiers.

The 15th Indian Division was formed on the 7^th of May 1916 to replace the 12th Indian Division on the Euphrates Front. The division remained on the Euphrates Front until the end of the war. It took part in the Action of As Sahilan (11 September 1916), the Capture of Ramadi (28 and 29 September 1917), the Occupation of Hīt (9 March 1918) and the Action of Khan Baghdadi (26 and 27 March 1918).

The III Indian Corps was formed in Mesopotamia. Prior to the reorganization of the British and Indian forces in Mesopotamia, it was designated as the Tigris Corps.

The 1st (Peshawar) Division was a Regular Division of the British Indian Army, formed as a result of the Kitchener reforms of the Indian Army in 1903. During the Great War the Division remained in India for local defence, but was mobilised for action on the North West Frontier on several occasions.

The Division was in the Northern Army, later called Northern Command. In 1919, the Division was mobilised for operations in Afghanistan during the Third Afghan War. Typical of all Indian Army formations, it contained a mixture of British and Indian units, and unlike British Divisions, contained a mixture of cavalry and infantry components.

The Monthly Army List for December 1920 shows that Henry Talbot Shakepear’s service in the Great War was in Mesopotamia from the 4^th of August 1917 to the 12^th of August 1918. This would have been during the period when the 12^th Cavalry was part of the newly formed III Indian Corps.

Captain Shakespear was appointed an Acting Major on the 8^th of January 1916 and he was promoted to the rank of Major on the 6^th of April 1917 while the regiment was serving with the III Indian Corps. As a Major he might have served as a squadron commander. His medal index card for his service in the war shows that he was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal. The card shows that he was issued the two medals in India. He was twice mentioned in despatches in the London Gazette on the 21^st of February 1919 and again on the 5^th of June 1919.

Figure 20. The Medal Index Card of Henry Talbot Shakespear.
(Image courtesy of Ancestry.com)

Following the war Henry served as Deputy Assistant Adjutant General from the 1^st of March to the 15th of August 1919. He then served as the Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General from the 18^th of October 1920 to the 29^th of October 1921 and returned to the post of Deputy Assistant Adjutant General on the 1^st of June 1922 and remained at that post until the 31^st of December 1924. He had been appointed a Brevet Lieutenant Colonel on the 3^rd of June 1919 and was a student at the Staff College in Quetta, India in December of 1920 while serving in the staff position of D.A.Q.G.

Henry Talbot Shakespear died on the 23^rd of August 1965. His address at the time of his death was Byways, Priestlands, Sherborne, Dorset. He died at The Yeatman Hospital in Sherborne.

Figure 21. The Yeatman Hospital, Sherborne, Dorset.
(Photograph courtesy of Wikipedia)

Henry’s will was probated on the 10^th of November 1965 at Winchester to The Public Trustee and Kathleen Mary Leighton Dyson, a married woman. His estate amounted to £24,631, or $612,361 in 2017 U.S. Dollars. He must have been an astute business man after leaving the Indian Army.

George Albert Shakespear was the son of William Henry Sullivan Shakespear and his wife Annie Caroline Shakespear (née Davidson). He was the half first-cousin of John Henry Childe Shakespear. George was born on the 5^th of March 1880 in Mooltan, Bengal. The 1891 Census of England shows young George at age 11 living at 27 Auckland Road East in Portsea, Portsmouth as a boarder in the household of one Charlotte W. Lacell, a school mistress.

George entered King William’s College in January of 1894 and left after the Mid-Summer term of 1897. According to the King William’s College Register he studied engineering, but it is not clear if these studies were undertaken at King William’s or at another institution after he left the college. The college register goes on to say that George served as a Lieutenant in the South African Constabulary in the Transvaal during the South Africa War, 1900-1902, and that he was awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal with 3 clasps. These three clasps were most likely [CAPE COLONY][ORANGE FREE STATE] and [TRANSVAAL].

The 1911 Census of England and Wales shows George, age 31 and single, residing at 78 Radcliffe Square, which was either a boarding house or a hotel in southwest London. His occupation is listed as a “worker” in the Colonial Civil Service and he is shown as being “on leave.” Just which colony of the empire he was serving is not indicated on the census form.

The Supplement to the London Gazetted of 22 April 1915 (page 388) shows that George Albert Shakespear, a Cadet in the Officers Training Corps, was appointed a 2^nd Lieutenant on the 13^th of April 1915. The King William’s College Register indicates that he was appointed a Temporary Captain in the Royal Army Service Corps on the 1^st of April 1917. His service record may be found in the National Archives file WO 339/28408 also indicating that he was a Captain in the Royal Army Service Corps. This is further verified by his medal index card (see Figure 22 below), which shows him authorized the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. The card also verifies his service in the Royal Army Service Corps as a Captain and shows that he entered a theater of the war on the 13^th of July 1915. Unfortunately the card does not indicate in which theater of the war he served.

Figure 22. The Medal Index Card of Captain George Albert Shakespear, R.A.S.C.

Following the war George may have returned to his Civil Service position. Information regarding his life after the war could not be found except for the probate record after his death, which indicates that he died on the 4^th of January 1961 at Queen Alexandria Hospital in Cosham, Portsmouth. His residence at the time of his death was 20 Western Parade, Southsea, Portsmouth. His will was probated at Winchester on the 21^st of February 1961 to Midland Bank Executor and Trustee Company Limited. His effects amounted to £8061 15s 9d or about $229,500 in 2017 U.S. Dollars.

Richard Harry Baird Shakespear was the son of Colonel Henry Talbot Shakespear and his wife Winifred Constance Shakespear (née Baird). He was born on the 28^th of January 1917 in Reigate, Surrey. Richard was a half first-cousin of John Henry Childe Shakespear.

Richard was a Gentleman Cadet at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst in 1935 and 1936 and on the 28^th of January 1937 he was commissioned a 2^nd Lieutenant in The Royal Scots Fusiliers (Army Number 71128). He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on the 28^th of January 1940 and in May of that year he was posted as the Motor Transport Officer in Headquarters Company of the 2^nd Battalion, The Royal Scots Fusiliers. His battalion was in France and Belgium at that time.

The 2^nd Battalion was part of the 17th Infantry Brigade, 5th Infantry Division through most of WW2. In early October 1939 it went to France as one of the independent infantry brigades and was part of the British Expeditionary Force. In 1940 the battalion saw action in France, Belgium and Holland. During the period from the 26^th to the 28^th of May 1940 the battalion was in action at the Ypres-Comines Canal. It had been ordered to stand fast and defend a hill, enabling troops from the British Expeditionary Force to withdraw from Dunkirk. In June of 1940 after the Dunkirk evacuation, the survivors of the battalion who were left behind were forced to surrender to the German. The ones that managed to escape evacuated from France and returned to the U.K. Richard Shakespear had been wounded and was evacuated to the U.K. prior to the surrender. On the 10^th of June 1940 he was appointed an Acting Captain and was promoted to Temporary Captain on the 10^th of September.

Captain Shakespear was appointed Adjutant of the 2^nd Battalion on the 25^th of January 1941. He was reassigned from the position of Adjutant in January of 1942, presumably to the post of a company officer.

On the 5^th of May 1942 the 2^nd Battalion left the 5th Division and became part of Force 121 in the invasion of Madagascar, codenamed ‘Operation Ironclad’.
On the 11^th of June 1942, following the Japanese Invasion of Burma, the battalion moved to India and rejoined the 5th Division. In 1942 the battalion was in the 17th Infantry Brigade and served in the Italian Campaign. During July and August of 1943 it took part in the invasion of Sicily, codenamed ‘Operation Husky’. On the 23^rd of July Richard Harry Baird Shakespear, then a Major, was killed in action in Sicily, age 26. He was buried in Catania War Cemetery, in the Province of Catania, Sicily, grave reference IV.G.41.

Richard’s family residence at the time of his death was Rockwood, Shortheath Road, Farnham, Surrey. Richard had married Barbara Joan Stewart (“Bobbie”) Roberts (1916-1993) on the 8^th of April 1940 at St. Thomas-on-the-Bourne, Farnham, Surrey. They had one daughter named Barbara. In 1950 “Bobbie” Shakespear remarried. Her second husband also was an Army officer, Captain John Mohun Carew (1921-1980) of the Devonshire Regiment.[52] Richard’s will was probated at Llandudno, Wales to his widow and his father, Colonel (Retired) Henry Talbot Shakespear. His effects amounted to £880.

Leslie Waterfield Shakespear was the cousin of William Henry Irvine Shakespear and the second cousin of our main character John Henry Childe Shakespear. He too was an officer in the Indian Army like so many other Shakespears and was a Colonel in 1909. He served on the North East Frontier of India in the Chin-Lushai campaign and the Lushai campaign was awarded the India General Service Medal 1854-1895 with clasps [CHIN LUSHAI 1889-90] and [LUSHAI 1889-92]. His Great War service included operations in Mesopotamia from the 9^th of November 1914 to the 7^th of September 1917. He was mentioned in despatches in the London Gazette on the 5^th of April 1916 and was appointed Assistant Quartermaster-General, Indian Army on the 18^th of May 1916. He was again mentioned in despatches on the 15^th of August 1917 for his service in Mesopotamia. He also took part in the Kuki Operations on the North East Frontier of India from the 5^th of January 1918 to the 10^th of May 1918.

Colonel Leslie Shakespear was made a Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (C.B.), a Companion of The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire (C.I.E.), and was awarded The Order of Saint Stanislaus, 2^nd Class with sword for his military service.[53]

Frank James Shakespear, the father of our main character John Henry Childe Shakespear, was born on the 17^th of August 1864 in Rathfarnham, Dublin, Ireland.[54] He was the first child of Henry John Childe Shakespear and his first wife, Jane. The 1882 Army List shows that Frank served in the ranks, regiment unknown, for 2 years and 100 days before he was commissioned a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Manchester Regiment on the 9^th of November 1887. On the 30^th of March 1888 2^nd Lieutenant Shakespear was transferred from the Manchester Regiment to the Bengal Staff Corps and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in the Indian Army.

Frank apparently was a skilled horseman and delighted in taking part in many events that involved riding. H.E. Abbot in his Sonepore Reminiscences for the years 1840 – 1896 tells of a horse race in which Frank participated in July of 1892 at Sonepore.

While on home leave from India Frank married Violet Constance Watney in Mitcham, Surrey on the 1^st of August 1896.[55] The couple returned to India following Frank’s period of home leave and he took up his horse racing endeavors once again. In the latter part of 1896 Frank took part in a race riding on a horse named Saturn. The race was written up in the Calcutta Paperchasing Records under the byline “The Hunters’ Steeplechase.” The article read as follows:

“Saturn was a fine bay horse owned by Mr. A. L. Butler and ridden by the late ‘ Mr. Childe’ (Captain Frank Shakespear), then in the zenith of his career as a G. R. Saturn was by no means an easy horse to ride, and if memory serves us aright used to take a good deal of holding out paperchasing. Mr. Butler, however, who was always a desperate thruster, used to shove him along in great form, and was always there or thereabouts on him at the finish.”[56]

Frank continued his service in the Indian Staff Corps and was promoted to the rank of Captain on the 16^th of November 1898. He subsequently transferred to the 4^th (Bengal) Cavalry and was stationed at Allahabad with his regiment. On the 13^th of June 1905 Captain Frank Shakespear tragically died of a cerebral hemorrhage. He was buried in the cantonment cemetery at Allahabad. The Garrison Chaplain, F.J. Clarke, presided over the burial on the same day as Frank’s death. Given the climatic conditions in Allahabad in June it probably was customary to bury deceased personnel quickly. Although his birth name was Francis, he used the name Frank almost exclusively throughout his life and it even was used in his military records and in the Army Lists. His tombstone and his burial records give his name as Frank and a plaque to commemorate his death simply gives his name as F. Shakespear.

Figure 28. The Plaque Dedicated to Captain F. Shakespear and a Lieutenant Goad, both of the 4^th Cavalry, Indian Army who Died in 1905.

The names of the Shakespears appear in numerous British Army Lists and Indian Army Lists throughout the 19^th and 20^th centuries. A search of such lists from 1906 through 1945 yielded the names of the men listed below. No direct connection has been made with these men and the family of John Henry Childe Shakespear, but if this were a purely genealogical study rather than a study of the life and military service of J.H.C. Shakespear, surely some connection to him could be made for some of the Shakespears listed here.

Shakespear, Arthur Bucknall, Lieutenant Colonel, Royal Marine Artillery.[57] Lieutenant, 24 June 1868; Captain, 10 October 1879; Major, 1 May 1888; Lieutenant Colonel, 29 July 1891

Shakespear, A.T. Colonel (local Brigadier), D.S.O., M.C., Royal Engineers, [58] Captain, R.E. 30 October 1914; Major, R.E., 16 May 1922; Acting Lieutenant Colonel, 20 August 1919; Salvage Officer (Class F.F.); Qualified 2^nd Class Interpreter; Passed Staff College; Colonel (local Brigadier, 19 December 1934) Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General in charge of administration in Malaya, 14 September 1934; Distinguished Service Order and Military Cross.

Shakespear, George Joseph, Honorary Captain (Quartermaster), Royal Artillery[59] Quartermaster, 14 April 1886; Honorary Captain, 14 April 1896

Shakespear, Henry Gordon Wyndham, Major, M.C., Gurkha Rifles[60] Born: 28 June 1920; 2^nd Lieutenant, Unattached, 22 October 1939; 2^nd Lieutenant, Indian Army, 30 March 1940; Lieutenant, Indian Army, 22 April 1941; Acting Captain, Indian Army, 1 January 1942; Captain, 1 July 1946; Temporary Major, 19 November 1948; Major, 2^nd King Edward VII’s Own Gurkha Rifles, 22 October 1952; Passed Staff College; Military Cross.

Shakespear, J., Lieutenant Colonel, C.M.G., D.S.O., Indian Army. [61] Lieutenant Colonel, Retired, Indian Army; North East Frontier, Lushai 1889; North East Frontier, Chin-Lushai, 1889-90; North East Frontier, Lushai, 1892; Operations in the South Lushai Hills, in command of the force; Great War Service; 1914-1918; Mentioned in Despatches, G.G.O. 592 of 1889; Mentioned in Despatches, London Gazette, 12 September 1890; Mentioned in Despatches, London Gazette, 4 January 1917 and 22 May 1917; Order of Saint Michael and Saint George; Distinguished Service Order.

Shakespear, J.G.W., Captain, Royal Artillery[62] Lieutenant, Royal Artillery, 28 April 1945; Captain, Royal Artillery, 25 May 1951.

Shakespear, J.H., 2^nd Lieutenant, Royal Artillery.[63] 2^nd Lieutenant, Royal Artillery, 18 January 1936, 107^th Battery (The South Nottinghamshire Hussars Yeomanry).

Shakespear. Leslie Talbot Crowdy, Major, Indian Army.[64] Born: 25 October 1917; 2^nd Lieutenant, Unattached, 20 August 1937; 2^nd Lieutenant, Indian Army, 26 August 1937; 2^nd Lieutenant, Indian Army, 13 October 1938; Lieutenant, Indian Army, 26 November 1939; Acting Captain, Indian Army, 3 September 1939 – 3 November 1939; Acting Captain, Indian Army, 8 August 1940 – 4 September 1940; Temporary Captain, Indian Army, 5 September 1940 – 12 March 1941; War Substantive Captain, 13 March 1941; Captain, 26 August 1945; Acting Major, 13 December 1940 – 12 March 1941; Temporary Major, 13 March 1941.

Shakespear, R.P., Lieutenant Colonel, Royal Engineers.[65] Lieutenant, Indian Army, 1 May 1925; Captain, R.E., 29 June 1946 (Movement Control Section); Temporary Major, 3 October 1946; Temporary Lieutenant Colonel, 1 January 1949.

Shakespear W.B., Major, Indian Army.[66] Captain, Indian Army, 1 September 1915; Acting Major, Indian Army, 22 March 1918; Major, Indian Army, 9 September 1924; Afghanistan and North West Frontier Operations, 10 June 1919 to 8 August 1919.

Shakespear, W.F., Lieutenant Colonel, Indian Army.[67] Lieutenant Colonel, Indian Army, Retired; Chitral 1895 – Relief of Chitral, Medal with clasp; North West Frontier Operations on the Samana and in the Kurram Valley during August and September 1897, two clasps; Tirah 1897-98: Operations against Khani Khel Chamkannis, clasp; Mentioned in Despatches G.G.O. 998 of 1895; Mentioned in Despatches G.G.O. 244 of 1998.

John Henry Childe Shakespear was born in Mitcham, Surrey on the 7^th of August 1898, the son of Frank and Violet Constance (née Watney) Shakespear. He was baptized on the 24^th of October 1898 in the Parish of St. Matthew in Fulham, Middlesex. His parent’s address at the time was the Distillery House, Wandsworth, London. On his baptism certificate his father’s occupation is shown as Indian Staff Corps.

At the time of the 1911 Census of England John was residing at 87 Church Road, Flat No. 2 in Hove, Sussex. His father’s name does not appear in the census because, as we have already noted, he died in Indian in 1905. His mother is shown in the census as a 36-year old widow. The household also consisted of a 22-year old domestic (a cook) by the name of Fannie Balchin and an 18-year old domestic (housemaid) by the name of Alice Ruth Sarah Holmwood. Violet Shakespear must have been left in a decent economic state after the death of her husband, as she was able to afford to employ two domestic servants.

John was educated at Holland House School in Hove, Sussex until 1912. His education then was taken in hand by H.M. & A.E. Vizards, tutors, between 1912 and 1914. In 1914 young John entered the City and Guilds College of the University of London in South Kensington. He was an Associate of the City and Guilds of London Institute. As he was only 16 years of age in August of 1914 when the Great War began, he was not able to join the forces immediately. He remained a student at the college until 1917 and he resided at 39 Esmond Gardens, Bedford Park, Westminster, London.

Figure 29. The City and Guilds College, London, circa 1900.
(Image courtesy of Wikipedia)

Figure 30. The Shakespear Home at 87 Church Road in Hove as it Appears in 2017.
(Photograph courtesy of Google Earth)

Figure 31. 39 Esmond Gardens, Bedford Park, Westminster as it Appears in 2017.
(Photograph courtesy of Google Earth)

In August of 1916 John turned 18 years of age, the age of eligibility for enlistment in the forces. He stayed on at City and Guilds College until the spring of 1917, perhaps hoping to complete his studies. He did, however, apply for admission to the Officer Cadet Unit with a view to an appointment to a Temporary Commission in the Regular Army for the period of the war, or a commission in the Special Reserve of Officers or a commission in the Territorial Force.[68] He indicated on his application that his first choice of branch was the Royal Engineers followed by the Army Service Corps and the Infantry. If commissioned in the Royal Engineers he wanted to serve in a field company, or if in the Army Service Corps he wished to serve in a mechanical transport unit. He indicated that at the time of submitting this application he already was a Cadet in the University of London Officer Training Corps (Engineer Unit) and had been since the 11^th of February 1915. This application for commission was made on the 28^th of March 1917.

Upon leaving the Engineer Unit of the University of London O.T.C. a record of service dated the 29^th of March 1917 was prepared for Shakespear, Army Form B. 2076 (Officers Training Corps – Senior Division). This report indicated that he was a Cadet Corporal and that his permanent address was 39 Edward Gardens [sic], Bedford Park, London, W.4. He had been in the Senior Division of the O.T.C. from 1914 to 1916 and he held both a Certificate A and a Certificate B from the Corps. His general efficiency was shown as “Very Good” and the report indicated that he had had training in both musketry and signalling. The report also indicated that he intended to follow a career in engineering. Under Special Remarks the Officer Commanding the O.T.C. wrote that he was “a very good cadet; keen & hardworking, well qualified under [Army Council Instructions for R.E.].

J.H.C. Shakespear left the City & Guilds (Engineering) College in February of 1917 as indicated in the following document, ready for a career in Mechanical Engineering and Motive Power.

Figure 32. Graduation Letter from City & Guilds (Engineering) College.

However, probably with a feeling of patriotism and perhaps some guilt in seeing his friends and family serving in the war, John enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers on the 25^th of April 1917, Regimental Number G/56907. During his time at the City and Guilds College, John had been a Cadet in the University’s Officer Training Corps.

John attested for the duration of the war and became G/56904 Fusilier John Henry Childe Shakespear. On his attestation papers he listed his trade as an “Engineering Student.” Because he had been studying engineering it is possible that he was prompted by the Army to apply for a transfer to the Royal Engineers to perform his military service. He made this application while serving with the Royal Fusiliers at Hounslow and he was almost immediately called up for service at the Engineer Training Centre at Newark.

Shakespear was given a medical examination at Hounslow on the 25^th of April 1917.

NOTE: In a previous examination given on the 25^th of March 1917 his chest measurements were as shown in the parentheses above. The vision in his right eye without glasses was measured as 6/160 and with glasses it was not improved.

J.H.C. Shakespear reported to Newark on the 30^th of April 1917 and was posted as a 244275 Pioneer to the Training Centre. The Royal Engineers Training Centre at Newark carried out basic recruit training and also basic field works training. In addition it also had a unit for training Special Reserve Officers and housed an Officers Training Corps. It was opened in June 1915 as the Reserve Training Centre, Newark, but was actually in the grounds of Coddington Hall, Coddington, which was just to the east of Newark. At its height it housed some 3,000 men.[69]

On the 17^th of August 1917 John Henry Childe Shakespear was discharged from the Royal Fusiliers as a consequence of his being transferred to the Royal Engineers. The following day his status changed from Cadet in the University of London Officers Training Corps to that of Temporary Second Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers. After a period of training as an engineer officer, Shakespear left for service in France on the 18^th of January 1918 to serve in the 83^rd Field Company, Royal Engineers with the 20^th (Light) Division. When he joined the company it was commanded by Major Ian Webb Massie, R.E.

The 83^rd Field Company had been in France with the 20^th Division since July of 1915 and up until the time that Shakespear joined the unit it had participated in twelve major battles and campaigns. Below is a chronological outline of the locations of Shakespear and his company after his arrival in France. Some details related to the company’s activities are provided where they have been uncovered in various documents.

The 20^th Division was in General Headquarters Reserve at Ercheu beginning on the 23^rd of February 1918.

On 21 March 1918 the German Army launched a large-scale offensive against the Allied front on the Somme battlefield. The offensive was known as the Kaiserschlacht or the Kaiser's Battle. The offensive on the Somme battle sector was codenamed Operation Michael. It was the first of several German large-scale attacks made against the Allied line on the northern part of the Western Front in the spring of 1918.

The southern part of the British front held by the British Fifth Army was successfully broken by the German Eighteenth Army and the left wing of the German Second Army. The German troops advanced through the British Battle Zone in the forward area of the British Front Line. In a change to the original plan, General Ludendorff decided to reinforce the sector of the attack on Operation Michael's left wing which was reported to be making good progress.

On the 22^nd of March 1918 the 83^rd Field Company was at Bacancourt and St. Sulpice near the Somme Canal. The bridges on the canal were reported to have been prepared for demolition. The 83^rd Field Company and the 96^th Field Company, on arrival at the canal found that this work had been most inadequately done. In many cases the charges were far too small, the main girder at one bridge had no charges at all on it and some bridges had not been prepared at all. This problem required a great deal of work on the part of the companies as many new charges had to be placed. Where the existing charges were fired they failed to make complete gaps in the bridges, so extra charges had to be placed afterwards to completely destroy the bridges. By dawn on the 23^rd the 20^th Division, in a withdrawal before the attacking German forces, had successfully crossed the bridges before the sappers blew them.[70]

On the 23^rd of March the work of the division’s engineers became more difficult as someone has set fire to the R.E. Park at Chaulnes long before the Germans got anywhere near it. This perhaps was a work of espionage. As a result, for two or three days there were hardly enough shovels or R.E. stores for use on the front line. Sapper work parties went to the park with lorries but were unable to do very much good, owing to the great heat and to the impossibility of getting at much of the most necessary materials. At this point the 83^rd Field Company joined the 60^th Brigade of the division, the brigade which it normally supported.[71]

During the morning repeated attempts to advance were made by the enemy, but these were held up by rifle fire from the men of the 83^rd Field Company along with help from a Lewis gun of the 30^th Division that luckily was in the area. At 1315 hours the pressure on the right increased and half an hour later the reserve section was sent up to reinforce the flank, with about 30 men of other units and some two or three hundred rounds of ammunition which the company had collected. By 1500 hours the right flank was being heavily pressed and ammunition was running out, and at 1530 hours the Germans made a heavy and determined attack against the whole company front. The losses from enfilade machine-gun fire were severe and although the right flank was forced back the company held on until the troops on the left had retired, thereby saving those troops from a flank attack by the enemy. Then, having made a very gallant stand, Major Massie gradually withdrew his men while heavily engaged with the enemy and eventually reported to the commander of the 60^th Brigade at 1900 hours that evening.[72]

In the casualty table presented below it will be noted that four men of the 83^rd Field Company were killed in this action on the 24^th of March 1918 and two men died of wounds on the 25^th and 28^th. This was the largest number of casualties suffered by the company in any period during the war.

Major Massie appears to have been an excellent company commander, not only well trained as an engineer officer, but also very much in command of infantry tactics. Commanding his company while it was fighting as infantry on an exposed flank was no job for an amateur. Keeping one section of the company in reserve and them committing it to the action just at the right time is also an indication of his experience in the field with infantry tactics. Major Massie was awarded the Military Cross during his service and was twice Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 1-1-1916, page 24, and 11-12-1917, page 13079). He appears to also have been decorated with a bar to his Military Cross for the action at Canizy.[73] He already had been awarded the Military Cross by 1917 and the Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers dated May 1919 (page 31) shows him as having been awarded a bar to the medal. It must be assumed that this second award of the M.C. was for his actions at Canizy. Unfortunately, neither his Medal Index Card nor an entry in the London Gazette has been uncovered to verify this. Major Massie subsequently was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.

Lieutenant J.H.C. Shakespeare might have been in the action at Canizy as well, although no definitive reference was found to verify that he was there. As a subaltern in the 83^rd Field Company at the time he may well have been a section commander. He did not receive a decoration for his service at Canizy, assuming that he was there, nor did he get a Mention in Despatches for his actions.

On the 25^th of March the 83^rd Field Company was with the 60^th Brigade in the Cressy-Billancourt-Réthonvillers area.

The map above shows that the 83^rd Field Company was within the southern area of the German advance towards Amiens. The company was at Hangest-En-Santerre on the 27^th of March, but it was forced to retreat to the northwest in order to position itself outside of the final line of the German advance. By the 30^th of March the company was at Boves, near Amiens where it was able to remain for some time after the German advance had been halted on a line stretching roughly from Villers-Bretonneux to Sains-en-Amienois.

On the 26^th of March the 83^rd Field Company moved with the 60^th Brigade to Roye and to Le Quesnoy and then to Arvillers in a retrograde movement west towards Amiens as shown in the map above. The company then continued to move in support of the 60^th Brigade to the locations shown below until the 14^th of July when it was detached from the brigade.

The unit war diary indicates that during the month of March 1918 the company lost 1 Officer and 21 Other Ranks wounded in action, 2 Other Ranks killed in action and 3 Other Ranks missing in action. These casualties undoubtedly were due to the German offensive and the Battle of Rosieres. This entry does not tally with the table shown below, which indicates that 6 men were killed in action, 2 died of wounds and 1 died of other causes in March of 1918. Given the confusion that must have existed during the withdrawal in the face of the German offensive, it is not surprising that the war diary would be in error. The numbers shown in the table were taken from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission files and should be considered to be more accurate.

A new system of allotting the work of the Royal Engineers field companies came into force on the 14^th of July. Instead of being attached to an infantry brigade and going into and out of the line with it, each field company took over a definite part of the front and became responsible for the work in its own area. The 83^rd Field Company took over the right (south) of the sector while the 96^th Field Company was placed in the center and the 84^th on the left.[74]

On the night of 22^nd/23^rd of July the 20^th Division planned a number of raids on the German lines in the Lens Sector. The 11^th K.R.R.C. with a party of the 83^rd Field Company started at 0030 hours on the 23^rd behind a smoke screen put up to simulate a gas cloud and a barrage in the rear of the objective. The enemy’s trenches in this sector were extremely difficult to raid in many places. The ground between the lines was filled with shell holes and was a mass of debris. The enemy had a number of forward machine guns in strong concrete emplacements that were difficult to silence. The raid of the 11^th K.R.R.C. was carried out by “C” Company of the battalion with one non-commissioned officer and six men of the 83^rd Field Company in support. The objective was a trench between the northeast corner of Avion and a place known as the “Bull Ring.” It was intended that the sappers should advance first under the smoke cloud with Bangalore torpedoes and blow two gaps in the wire. Unfortunately the wind dropped and the smoke cloud, which was supposed to come over five minutes before the start of the action, never reach reached the objective. Therefore, the sappers had to crawl forward without the cover of the smoke and place the torpedoes. Five minutes later one torpedo was in position, but the second one could not be placed as an enemy patrol appeared opposite the wire. The men from the 83^rd Field Company did not suffer any casualties during this raid.[75]

The chronology presented above was extracted from the 83^rd Field Company war diary and the history of the 20^th Division for the periods of time shown. Unfortunately, other than the dates of the entries in the diary, the entries themselves are almost impossible to read. The war diary does indicate that during the static phase of the company’s operations from the end of January through September of 1918 it was involved with general engineer works to include preparation of obstacles, placing and improving barbed wire in front of trenches, trench revetments, and bridge demolitions. During this period the men of the company also took part in training, which included gas drills, physical training and bayonet fighting. During the pursuit of the German forces from the end of September until the Armistice, the company assisted the advancing infantry of the division by constructing and improving roads, railway embankments and bridges. The sappers also removed many obstacles and booby traps.

While Shakespear was assigned to the company the unit lost 13 Other Ranks killed in action or died of wounds. The following is a summary of those casualties:[76]

Regimental Number	Rank	Name	Date of Death	Cause of Death
44974	A/Corporal	Murfin, George	23-03-1918	Killed in action
23267	Sapper	Warrener, Harry James	23-03-1918	Killed in action
211772	Lance Corporal	Ashford, R.	24-03-1918	Killed in action
398821	Sapper	Jones, Thomas	24-03-1918	Killed in action
46139	Sapper	Sharpe, George William	24-03-1918	Killed in action
217282	Sapper	Tuckett, Frank Henry	24-03-1918	Killed in action
180086	Sapper	Coles, Charles Henry	25-03-1918	Died of wounds
158806	Sapper	Brunsdon, Tom	27-03-1918	Died
48829	Sergeant	Pepall, George	28-03-1918	Died of wounds
166816	Sapper	Murray, William	09-04-1918	Died
402396	A/Lance Corporal	Fletcher, Alexander	13-05-1918	Killed in action
164741	Sapper	Wetherell, Charles A.	13-05-1918	Killed in action
33124	A/Lance Corporal	Ward, Victor George	18-05-1918	Died

Following the Armistice on the 11^th of November the company was involved in projects that today might be regarded as “civic action” projects under the auspices of the Works Directorate in France. The men began to assist local farmers in the Famechon area with the construction of cattle shelters and pens and the repair of water wells. Preparations for demobilization of the 83^rd Field Company began on the 1^st of April 1919 and by the 31^st of May the company essentially ceased to exist. Captain Shakespear’s worked for the C.R.E. at Dieppe before his service ended on the 10^th of February of 1919 when he relinquished his commission and returned to England prior to the final demobilization of the company. He retained the rank of 2^nd Lieutenant after demobilization and was placed in Medical Category B1.[77]

Shakespear’s Protection Certificate (Officer), Army Form Z.3, was issued on the 9^th of February 1919. His Dispersal Area was at Wimbeldon and he was assigned to the Works Directorate, Royal Engineers in the event of an emergency requiring his service again. In such case he was to report to the R.E. Headquarters at Chatham. His address upon leaving the Army was 31 Park Mansions in Knightsbridge, a rather exclusive area of London.

Figure 34. Park Mansions, Knightsbridge.[78]
(Image courtesy of rightmove.co.uk)

For his service in the Great War he was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal as shown in his Medal Index Card. He did not receive these medals until the 24^th of April 1939, rather a long time after the end of the war.

Figure 34a. The Great War Medals of 2^nd Lieutenant J.H.C. Shakespear.
(Photograph from the author's collection).

Figure 35. The Medal Index Card of John Henry Childe Shakespear.
(Image courtesy of Ancestry.com)

3. THE INTER-WAR YEARS, 1919-1939

After his demobilization from the Army J.H.C. Shakespear apparently took up the practice of engineering. India was calling to him as it had to many other members of his family, so on the 31^st of December 1920 he embarked at London aboard S.S. Syria bound for Calcutta. His occupation on the ship’s manifest is listed as “Engineer.” Shakespear took a position as Assistant Engineer with The Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway Company, Ltd., working under the railway’s Chief Engineer at Park Town, Madras. He resigned from this position on the 15^th of May 1925 and upon leaving the company’s employ he received a Certificate of Service. The certificate was signed by H. Lingard, the Chief Engineer and it stated that Shakespear’s duties had been carried out satisfactorily.

On the 1^st of July 1921, while working in India, he was appointed a 2^nd Lieutenant, Royal Engineers in the Regular Army Reserve of Officers with seniority from the 7^th of January 1920. He resigned his commission on the 1^st of February 1922. It is unclear from his service papers why these actions of commissioning and resigning took place.[79] However, shortly before leaving for India, Shakespear wrote to the War Office from his residence at 31 Park Mansions, making a request that might have precipitated his commissioning. He informed the War Office that he was going to India to work for the railway line and he asked if he could serve in a volunteer corps of the Royal Engineers while he was there. This interest that he displayed in serving may have brought about his appointed in the Reserve of Officers.

About a year after his arrival in Indian, on the 11^th of December 1921, John Henry Childe Shakespear married Florence Henrietta Style in Bombay.

On the 8^th of January 1924 J.H.C. Shakespear became an Associate Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (A.M.I.C.E.). His address at the time of his becoming a member of the institution is shown as The Westminster Bank, Albert Gate, Knightsbridge, London, S.W.1. and his civil engineering specialty is given as “Reinforced Concrete and Building Work.” It is most likely that Shakespear was in India at this time and that the address given above was simply a mailing address. After leaving The Madras and Southern Railway he took an appointment with the Department of Public Works in Sierra Leone, West Africa as an Executive Engineer. However, prior to starting work in Sierra Leone, Shakespear worked as an Engineer Agent for Monolithic Concrete Houses, Ltd. from May to December of 1925. His period of service in Sierra Leone was recorded as from the 28^th of April 1926 to the 14^th of June 1931.[80] The Director of Public Works, Mr. C. Wilson-Brown wrote, upon Shakespear’s departure from Sierra Leone, that:

“Mr. Shakespear was engaged on the construction of laterite gravel surface motor roads, construction and maintenance of buildings, bridges and culverts, the erection and operation of water supply pumps and engines, and the construction of the distribution systems, tanks, etc.”

Shakespear’s Efficiency and General Conduct were rated as “Good” by Mr. Wilson-Brown and the cause of his termination from the D.P.W. Sierra Leone was noted as “transferred to Northern Rhodesia.”[81]

On the 29^th of April 1931 John Henry Childe Shakespear arrived at Plymouth and Liverpool from Freetown, Sierra Leone aboard T.M.V. Aba[82] as a first class passenger. The ship’s manifest shows his occupation as Civil Engineer and his address again as The Westminster Bank.

Shakespear next served as an Executive Director of Public Works in Northern Rhodesia from the 3^rd of July 1931 until the 15^th of January 1933. He worked for Mr. F.A. Buckley who was the head of the department. In Shakespear’s Certificate of Service Buckley did not elaborate on the nature of Shakespear’s work, but he did indicate that his Efficiency and General Conduct had been “Good.” The cause of Shakespear’s termination from this engagement was “Reduction in Staff.’ While in that position the Northern Rhodesian government had been closed down during an economic crisis.[83] During that crisis period Shakespear worked for a Mr. J.B. Callander (presumably an official of a contract engineering firm working in country). Mr. Callander indicated that Shakespear was in charge of a section of bridge and culvert construction and that his work was reliable and trustworthy during the whole period that he worked on the project.[84]

On the 8^th of September 1934 Shakespear wrote to The Under-Secretary of State at the War Office and forwarded with his letter an application for appointment along with the certificates of service from Sierra Leone and Northern Rhodesia. His letter ran for three pages explaining his qualifications and previous experience. In his application he indicated that he had been out of work for 18 months. At the time that he made this application he was residing at 55 Queens Gate, Kensington, S.W.7.

Figure 38. The Flats at Queen’s Gate, Kensington.
(Photograph courtesy of aflux.co.uk/portfolio/queens-gate-south-kensington)

His application included a number of professional references. Those that he listed were:

· B. Binford-Hole, Esq., Solicitor, Messrs. Elwell and Binford-Hole, 65, Coleman Street, London E.C.2.

· W.S. Lake, Esq., late Director of Public Works, Sierra Leone, Kensington Palace Mansions, De Vere Gardens, Kensington W.8.

In the section of the application requesting particulars of qualifications and experience he listed:

On the 15^th of April 1935, while residing in the Victoria Hotel in Aldershot, Shakespear was offered the position as a civilian Garrison Engineer in the Establishment for Engineer Services (E.E.S.) for Camps and Roads at Aldershot. He signed the contract for this position on the 23^rd of April 1935 while he was residing at 4 Courtfield Road, Gloucester Road, London, S.W.7.[85] When the office of Deputy Chief Royal Engineers was created at the Aldershot garrison on the 27^th of October of 1936 he was given that position.

For his continued employment at Aldershot, Shakespear was required to complete a “Conditions of Service for Civilian Garrison Engineers.” This was a 2-page contract document that described the conditions of his employment as outlined below and as they appeared on the form:

Shakespear agreed to accept the appointment of Civilian Garrison Engineer on the conditions enumerated above and signed the document on the 20^th of January 1936. The document was countersigned on the 3^rd of February 1936 by Lieutenant Colonel G. Henniker for the Director of Fortifications and Works at the War Office. However, shortly thereafter Shakespear applied for and was accepted for a position as an Engineer in the Department of Public Works in Nigeria. He left England on the 28^th of October 1936 to take up his new position. This was a decision on his part that was to cause much controversy in his life.

A ship’s manifest dated 21 August 1937 shows that Shakespear and his wife arrived at Plymouth from Lagos, Nigeria aboard M.V. Accra. The manifest shows him listing his occupation as “Engineer” and his residence at 5 Hamilton Mansions, Hove, Sussex. He had left his position as Garrison Engineer at Aldershot and had taken a position as a temporary Engineer in the Public Works Department of Nigeria. This was not a happy time in his professional life. His reason for leaving Nigeria and returning to England is explained in a confidential report prepared by the Director of Public Works in Nigeria with a cover letter from Colonial Office dated 22 November 1937. The cover letter states the following:

“Mr. Shakespear was engaged on agreement as a temporary Engineer in the Public Works Department of Nigeria on the 26^th October, 1936. He proceeded on leave to this country on the 17^th of August last on the termination of his agreement, the reason for which will be found in the enclosed copy of a confidential report on his services by the Director of Public Works. I am to say, however, that Mr. Shakespear has protested against the termination of his appointment and against the view formed regarding his efficiency by the Head of his Department, and his representations have been referred to the Governor of Nigeria for his consideration. Copies of his letters are enclosed.

No report on Mr. Shakespear’s health has been received from the Government of Nigeria, but it may be assumed that his health was satisfactory while in the colony. After his return to England, he underwent an operation for the removal of his appendix and was granted an extension of his leave on medical grounds until the 30^th of November.

Mr. Shakespear previously served in Sierra Leone as an Executive Engineer in the Public Works Department from the 28^th of April, 1926, to the 3^rd of July, 1931. He was then transferred to Northern Rhodesia for employment in a similar capacity, and served in that Territory until the 18^th of January, 1933, when his appointment was terminated owing to the need for economy. In Sierra Leone he was reported to be a capable and hard-working Engineer and to have shown energy and keenness, and he was recommended for employment elsewhere. In Northern Rhodesia, his general conduct was reported to be good and his personal characteristics were stated to be fair; the work on which he was employed called for little administration but so far as it did, it was carried out to the satisfaction of the Director of Public Works.

Mr. Ormsby Gore [the Under Secretary of State in the Colonial Office] apprehends that the Army Council would wish to be acquainted with the circumstances in which Mr. Shakespear’s appointment in Nigeria came to an end before the letter offering him employment under the War Office is sent. The letter is accordingly returned herewith.”

The following is the confidential report mentioned in the Colonial Office cover letter.

Confidential Report on the work and conduct of Mr. J.H.C. Shakespear, Engineer, Temporary Staff, Public Works Department, Nigeria.

“Mr. John Henry Childe Shakespear served in the Public Works Department, Nigeria, from 28^th October 1936, to 6^th August 1937. His appointment was terminated owing to unsatisfactory work.

Mr. Shakespear was placed in charge of improvement, re-alignment in places, and bituminous surfacing of the Ibadan-Ejinrin [sic][86] road, under the instructions of the Senior Executive Engineer, Ibadan. In common with every executive officer in the country he did not have the assistance of a competent subordinate staff. He was given all available information and specifications and suitable instructions and was responsible for proceeding with those portions of the various works as to which specifications were available and practice was well established and for preparing working plans, specifications, and estimates for approval by the Senior Executive Engineer prior to proceeding with the remainder. He was in close contact with, and was given advice and assistance by the Senior Executive Engineer.

In the circumstances Mr. Shakespear failed in regard to the exercise of supervision and control, in the engineering appreciation of the instructions and specifications issued to him, and in general appreciation of the scope of the project and his responsibilities.

The stilted and rather bombastic wording of the Confidential Report indicates that Shakespear did not do his job in Nigeria to the satisfaction of the Senior Executive Engineer or the Director of Public Works. It is difficult to determine from the report specifically what Shakespear’s failing were. The last paragraph of the report states that he failed in a number of ways in his duties, but nowhere in the report does it indicate how his failures affected the construction of the Ibadan-Ejinrin road. There may have been some personal friction and animosity between Shakespear and the Senior Executive Engineer that brought about his dismissal. This, of course, would not be included in the report even if it were true.

Figure 38a. Map of Nigeria Showing the Ibadan-Ejinrin Road.
(Map courtesy of Wikipedia)

The action terminating Shakespear’s appointment was contained in a letter from the Director of Public Works, Nigeria and is presented below in its original form.

Figure 39. Letter of Termination of Appointment.
(Document from the service papers of J.H.C. Shakespeare).

As one might guess, Shakespear did not accept his dismissal without submitting a rebuttal.

Figure 40-1. Shakespear’s Rebuttal Letter to His Termination of Appointment.
(Document from the service papers of J.H.C. Shakespeare).

Figure 40-2. Shakespear’s Rebuttal Letter to His Termination of Appointment.
(Document from the service papers of J.H.C. Shakespeare).

Figure 40-3. Shakespear’s Rebuttal Letter to His Termination of Appointment.
(Document from the service papers of J.H.C. Shakespeare).

Figure 40-4. Shakespear’s Rebuttal Letter to His Termination of Appointment.
(Document from the service papers of J.H.C. Shakespeare).

Shakespear had attached to this letter a note from Brigadier C.A. Bird of the Chief Engineer’s Office, Command Headquarters, Aldershot, dated 22 September 1936, in which Brigadier Bird wrote:

“Mr. J.H. Shakespear has been employed in this Command as a Garrison Engineer under C.R.E. Camps and Roads, for the past eighteen months, during which time his duties have been mainly in connection with road construction and maintenance and analogous subjects, including drainage and sanitation.

He has thrown himself wholeheartedly into the work, in carrying out which he has shown marked ability and energy. He has been of great assistance to me, and I shall be extremely sorry to lose him.”

Another letter of recommendation, dated 22 September 1936, was included by Shakespear in his rebuttal regarding his termination of employment in Nigeria. This letter was prepared by Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) L.C. Owen, Secretary of the Aldershot Command Athletic Association. In this letter Lieutenant Colonel Owen addresses Shakespear’s work in the areas of water supply and purification, gravel pits and a premix macadam plant, sewage works, management of construction equipment, construction of permanent and semi-permanent camps and land works including forestation and drainage. The last two paragraphs of this letter reads as follows:

“During the 12 months Mr. Shakespear was under my orders, I found his work first-rate in every respect. He was thoroughly reliable, hard-working and keen on his job, showed plenty of initiative and ideas, and controlled a large number and variety of workers with great efficiency.

I would be very glad to have him under me at any time, and can thoroughly recommend him for any executive engineering appointment.”

As one reads through the circumstances surrounding Shakespear’s dismissal in Nigeria and the performance of his duties prior to going to Nigeria, certain questions arise as to the validity of his dismissal. As previously indicated, the Director of Public Works confidential report regarding the reasons for his dismissal is worded in such a general way as to provide virtually no evidence as to why he should have been dismissed. Shakespear’s rebuttal on the other hand is specific in many areas where he explains the nature of his work and his relationship with his supervisor. Some of these points are summarized here.

1. Shakespear claims that if his work was considered to be unsatisfactory, he should have been warned in writing by his supervisor so that he could improve his performance. There is no indication that this was done. It is a proper management practice even today, especially when dealing with government employees.

2. Shakespear wrote that the D.P.W’s letter . . . can only mean that he was “totally inefficient as to the be incapable of supervising the construction of a few short deviations of earth laterite road, and the carrying out of a small area of 2-coat bitumen surface dressing work.” Based on his previous experience as a Garrison Engineer in the U.K. and his work in Sierra Leone and Northern Rhodesia with similar and more challenging projects, this does some strange that his performance on a much smaller job would have been so inefficient. Working with laterite[87] can sometimes be problematic, but Shakespear already had work with this soil.

AUTHORS NOTE: I worked on the construction of a highway in Thailand during 1963 and 1964 where laterite was the primary subgrade and sub-base material for the road. It can sometimes be difficult to work within its rock-like form, but not so difficult that it should have caused such serious problems for Shakespear.

3. From references previously given to Shakespear regarding his work with bituminous pavement, it is difficult to understand how that portion of the project would have given him so much trouble.

4. Shakepear claims that his supervisors did not inspect much of his project in his presence and the one section, when inspected by the Acting Deputy Director, was not found to be unsatisfactory.

5. The Divisional Engineer, Mr. W.H. Jackson, appears to be the individual who found most fault with Shakespear’s work. Shakespear claims that he was following instructions given by Jackson regarding the work, but that the quality of labor and materials that were available were not up to par. It is difficult to assess Shakespear claim in this regard, but it must be said that the D.P.Ws confidential report is so vague as to make one wonder just what the problem really was.

6. Shakespear’s comment regarding the “falsification of contractor’s measurements” is particularly disturbing as it suggests that the Executive Engineer, Mr. J.M. Longson and an African engineer and the contractor, may have falsified billing records. Getting rid of Shakespear to hide what they were doing might have been the reason for his dismissal.

Shakespear had been doing work for the War Department for most of his career. The work in Nigeria fell under the Colonial Office. Perhaps the attitude and policies of the Colonial Office officials were much different than those to which Shakespear had become accustomed so that conflicts arose between him and his superiors. One would think, however, that engineers are engineers regardless of which government agency they work for, so this argument regarding differing policies of different agencies may not have entered into the problem. One final consideration may be enmity that developed between Shakespear and Jackson or between Shakespear and Longson, enmity that Shakespear’s superiors felt could only be resolved by getting rid of him. There also is the possibility of jealousy. Jackson and/or Longson may have been jealous of Shakespear’s abilities or concerned about his ambition and perhaps even fearful that he might replace one of them. Of course Shakespear’s work could have been faulty in Nigeria for reasons that never will be known precisely; however, there are a number of questions regarding the affair that seemed worthy of consideration.

Whatever the reason for his termination in Nigeria, Shakespear returned to England and immediately decided to return to work for the War Office. His service papers show many documents where Shakespear continued to deny that his work in Nigeria was wanting and he continued to make claims for compensation for money lost as a result of his termination. He also complained quite vehemently about the quarters that he had been given in Nigeria and his living conditions while he was there. His major concern, however, was that the War Office should not consider that his dismissal from his position in Nigeria as a mark against him for future employment.

A letter dated the 18^th of October 1937 was written by Shakespear to the War Office on his return from Africa aboard M.V. Accra. In this letter he indicated that he would like to be considered for employment abroad as a Civil Engineer, and that in regard to employment in England he would prefer a posting to Aldershot. The War Office responded indicating that it was intended to take him on and assign him to Aldershot on the 1^st of November 1937. Some consideration also was made at this point to offer Shakespear a position as a Civil Engineer in Palestine. In fact he was offered the position in Haifa, Palestine and he did consider it, but he had numerous questions regarding pay, leave, travel expenses and his wife being able to accompany him.

Shakespear wrote another letter, dated the 20^th of December 1937, to Lieutenant Colonel G. Henniker, R.E. addressing the issue of his possible posting to Palestine. At the time that the letter was written Shakespear was living at Douglas Mansions, 120 Cromwell Road, London, S.W.7. In this letter he was concerned about the following:

· Whether a leave of absence to England from Palestine would be granted after 3 years service and whether his passage and that of his wife back to England would be provided by the War Office.

· He did not want to take his wife with him when he left for Palestine but preferred to have her join him later after he had investigated living conditions there and after he had gotten settled in his new position. He assumed that the War Office would still provide passage for her at a date subsequent to his travel.

· He requested that the 2^nd Class railway accommodation to be provided for him in Palestine be changed to 1^st Class claiming that in his 16 years of service in India he always had been granted 1^st Class accommodation and he stated that “to travel 2^nd Class would really be derogatory to the appointment [he was] posted to.”

Another document in his records dated the 20^th of December 1937 was from one P.J.F. Chapman-Walker at 25 Dover Street in London to The Under-Secretary of State, The War Office In this document Mr. Chapman-Walker indicates that he had known Shakespear for 5 years and that he had no reason to believe that Shakespear was other than trustworthy and reliable. An officer by the name of Lieutenant Colonel P.J.F. Chapman-Walker would later command the Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD), an Australian outfit directly responsible to General Sir Thomas Blamey, Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Military Forces (AMF), based at Allied Land Headquarters in Melbourne. SRD was a cover name for Special Operations Australia (SOA) that had moved out of the Allied Intelligence Bureau (AIB). Could this be the same Chapman-Walker who was commenting on Shakespear’s character, and if so, where had they met before? The name and the initials are too distinctive to believe that they were not the same person.

On the 17^th of January 1938 a decision was made by the Director of Works regarding Shakespears posting. In a memo written on that date the A.D.W. wrote the following:

“The appointment of a G.E. to Haifa has been held in abeyance for the present, and Mr. Shakespear was informed of the position when he called here on the 14^th inst. He expressed, however, a wish to be posted to a Home Station for duty as early as possible owing to his financial affairs, and expressed a hope that if an appointment occurred at a later date in Palestine he might be considered for the post. This we are prepared to do, and we have posted him to fill an ordinary vacancy at Tidworth.

On the 14^th of January 1938 Shakespear received notice to move to Bulford Camp in Tidworth where he was to be the civilian Garrison Engineer and at times acting Deputy Chief Royal Engineers. He reported there on the 17^th of that month. While in the capacity as a Garrison Engineer he earned £440 per year. On the 10^th of October 1938 Lieutenant J.H.C. Shakespear, A.M.I.C.E. (as he was designated in a H.Q. Southern Command memo) assumed the duties of D.C.R.E. Shrivenham District. He had been re-graded from a Garrison Engineer to Deputy Chief Royal Engineers. He entered the grade of D.C.R.E. at the minimum of the approval (wage) scale; that is, £550 a year, with effect from the date on which he assumed the full duties of his appointment. This wage would be approximately US$56,300 in 2017 dollars.

On the 10^th of November 1938 the Commander of the 2^nd Cavalry Brigade stationed at Tidworth wrote the following regarding Shakespear’s performance as Garrison Engineer:

“I have known Mr. J.H.C. Shakespear for over 12 months in the capacity of Garrison Engineer, Tidworth. During the recent crisis he held the appointment of D.C.R.E., Tidworth, during which period I had ample opportunity of watching his work and, although he was pressed unduly hard, his handling of the Engineer services was of the highest quality.

4. WORLD WAR 2, 1939-1946

This portion of the story of John Henry Childe Shakespear’s life and military service has been the most difficult to construct because his service papers obtained from the National Archives in London include very little information about this period. With war looming on the horizon Shakespear left his position at Tidworth and was posted to the Air Ministry Works Directorate in Singapore and Malaya in June of 1939. It is not known if this posting was voluntary or whether it was necessitated by mounting world tensions. Shakespear appeared to have enjoyed working outside of the U.K. as indicated by his applications for assignments to India, Sierra Leone, Northern Rhodesia, Nigeria to Palestine (a posting that he never got). He may well have sought the position in Singapore and Malaya. Interestingly, after all those years working as a Garrison Engineer for the Army, he should decide to take a posting with the Air Ministry.

By the 10^th of December 1941 he was serving in the Reserve of Air Force Officers, Administrative and Special Duties Branch. He was a Squadron Leader, Class CC, serving as a Resident Engineer on the Works Staff, Royal Air Force. He was later appointed Squadron Leader of a Works Squadron, R.A.F. Works Squadrons were responsible for the maintenance and repair of airfields. There were many R.A.F. airfields in Singapore and Malaya prior to World War 2, so it is not possible to know to which one he may have been assigned. In a letter contained in his service file he indicates that he had worked closely with the 9^th Indian Division.

The 9th Indian Infantry Division was formed on the 15^th of September 1940 at Quetta, India before being transferred to Malaya. The three original brigades of the division were the 15th, 20th, and 21st Indian Infantry Brigades. The 3/17th Dogra Regiment from the 9th Division was the first British Commonwealth Army unit to see action against the Japanese at the Battle of Kota Bharu on 8 December 1941. The 9th Indian Division fought a relatively successful defensive retreat down Malaya's east coast until the 22nd Brigade was cut off from the rest of the division at a demolished railway bridge near the village of Layang in the state of Johore. Major-General Barstow, the division commander, was killed crossing the bridge while attempting to contact the brigade. The 22nd Brigade was destroyed whilst trying to find another way to Singapore. What was left of the division was amalgamated with the 11th Indian Division.

There was an R.A.F. airfield at Kota Bharu where the 9^th Indian Division fought its first action, so Shakespear might have been stationed in that area. Apparently he was in Malaya and Singapore when the Japanese invaded and he escaped from Singapore via Java prior to the surrender of Singapore. He did receive The Pacific Star, therefore, his eligibility for the medal had to come for his service in Malaya sometime from the8th of December 1941 to the 15^th of February 1942.

On the 27^th of February 1942 Shakespear relinquished his commission in the R.A.F. Reserve of Officers and on the 20^th of March 1942 he received an Emergency Commission in the Indian Army. He was appointed a War Service Lieutenant in the Indian Army and Temporary Captain, Indian Engineers on the 1^st of July 1942. He was assigned as a Field Engineer, Air Force Works on the General Headquarters Staff, probably at a station in India. This posting may have come about because of the work he had done for the Air Ministry in Malaya and Singapore. The lack of detailed information regarding his service during this period may be the result of his papers being split between the Air Ministry and the India Office.

In July of 1943, a Captain in the Indian Engineers, he was again appointed as a Garrison Engineer, presumably in India. Then on the 7^th of November 1943 he was appointed a War Service Captain and Temporary Major in the Indian Engineers. The number of appointments and postings that this man had during his life makes ones head spin!

In February of 1944 Shakespear states in a letter found in his file that he was appointed an Independent Garrison Engineer working directly for Deputy Chief Engineer, but he does not indicate where. He adds in the letter that he had “financial responsibilities to call for tenders and to accept contracts up to £7000.”

On the 24^th of December 1944 Shakespear sent a letter to Major H.N. Cole, R.E. at the War Office, Hobart House, requesting a transfer from the Indian Engineers to the Royal Engineers. In this letter Shakespear summarizes his work and military service from 1917. He is somewhat free and loose with dates and his recollections do not coincide with official records in some cases. His descriptions of his responsibilities also appear to be somewhat exaggerated.

By January of 1945 he was living at the Queens Hotel, The Strand, Torquay on leave from India, a leave that was scheduled to end on the 6^th of February 1945. He still was serving with the Indian Engineers at this time. While England he requested a transfer from the Indian Army to the British Army for compassionate reasons which were not stated in his request. The Indian Office was unable to recommend the transfer but had no problem with him being employed in England by the War Office while still on the rolls of the Indian Engineers. Major Shakespear subsequently reported for duty to the Southern Command, Salisbury, Wiltshire on the 7^th of February 1945, probably as the Deputy Commander Royal Engineers. He remained in the Indian Army until at least August of 1946, as he appears in the Quarterly Army List of that month on page 2581a.

For his service during the Second World War, Acting Major John Henry Childe Shakespear received the 1939-45 Star, the Pacific Star, the Defence Medal and the War Medal.[88]

Figure 42. The 1939-45 Star, Africa Star, Defence Medal and War Medal.
(Images from the author's collection)

J.H.C. Shakespear received the promotions and changes in rank during his time in service shown in the table below.

J.H.C. Shakespear received the following appointments and served at the locations shown in the table below during his military service and civil career.

C. Qualifications:

J.H.C. Shakespear received the qualifications shown in the table below during his military service and civil career.

J.H.C. Shakespear received the following military training and educational levels during his time in service:

J.H.C. Shakespear received the following medals, awards and decorations during his time in service, named as shown in the table:

J.H.C. Shakespear left the Army at the end of the Second World War. His total service was reckoned as shown in the tables below:

The table below provides information regarding J.H.C. Shakespear’s medical history while serving in the Army.

Little information was uncovered regarding John Henry Childe Shakespear’s life after 1946. It may be assumed that he continued to practice engineering, probably for a government agency, until the date of his final retirement. The manifest of S.S. Strathmore shows him arriving in the U.K. from Sydney, Australia on the 26^th of August 1958. The manifest shows that he embarked at Singapore and that he was planning to stay in the U.K. for a period of 6 months, living at the Mount Royal Hotel in Marble Arch, London, W.1. His occupation is listed as Chief Civil Engineer. His wife Florence accompanied him on the journey. It is not known if he was working as an engineer in Malaya or if he had gone to Singapore to revisit the place where he had served when the Second World War started.

He died on the 3^rd of June of 1969 in the Bexhill Hospital, Bexhill, Sussex. His death certificate lists him as a Chartered Civil Engineer (retired) and his address as The Sackville, Bexhill. His wife was the informant of his death. The causes of death listed for him were:

1b. Carcinoma of the pharynx (that part of the throat that is behind the mouth and nasal cavity and above the esophagus and the larynx, or the tubes going down to the stomach and the lungs.

His mother had predeceased him in Hove, Sussex in September of 1965. His wife Florence died on the 25^th of September 1975 at Haywards Heath, West Sussex.

1. The page starting on the 27^th of January 1918 at the Jackdaw Tunnels states that “Lt. Shakespear joined coy 25/1/18.” This entry was made in the diary on the 30^th of January 1918.

2. The page starting on the 24^th of March 1918 at Bacancourt begins a detailed description of the company’s action at Canizy. The entry, made by Major Massie, reads as follows, just as it was written in the diary by the company commander:

“Informed by Brigade that enemy crossed CANAL at CANIZY. Ordered at 8 am to move my company there, find out situation and dig new line. Informed at 9.30 am by 60^th Brigade that their right flank was in the air and that enemy was advancing down main road from HAM towards HOMBLEUX. Ordered by 60^th Brigade to move my company to this flank, engage the enemy & establish defensive flank. Sent forward cyclist scouts and advance guard, company, less H^dQtrs & Transport, advanced in artillery formation. Reported by advance guard about 10.30 am that they were in touch with enemy. Under heavy machine gun & rifle fire from flank on the high ground running NE & SW one mile E of HOMBLEUX. No 2 section on left No 1 center & No 3 on right No 4 reserve. Collected considerable stragglers from 30^th Division & a strong line organized on & forward of the high ground 1 mile E of HOMBLEUX, left in touch with 12^th K.R.R.C. and holding the main road HAM to HOMBLEUX, right past 1500 yards S.E. along the ridge. Unable to get in touch with any troops on the right. Situation reported to 60^th Bde at 11.45 am and that line could withstand frontal attack but situation on my right flank dangerous.

During the forenoon repeated attempts of enemy to advance were held off by rifle fire and the assistance of one Lewis gun of 30^th Div. Report sent at 1.15 pm to 60^th Bde stating pressure on my left had eased but increased greatly on my right flank. Also requested further ammunition & machine guns.

Received report from Lt Poole [at] 1.45 pm in charge of right flank posts, that he was being hard pressed, reinforcements & ammunition urgently required. No 4 section sent off to reinforce right flank also 30 men of Warwick Regt, 200-300 rounds of s.a.a. collected & sent up also.

2.30 pm Report from Lt. Poole, suffering heavy casualties & being outflanked by enemy in strength, enemy also moving in small bodies & concentrating in wood near GRECOURT. Two m.g.’s from motor machine gun company arrived installed one on main road HOMBLEUX to HAM ordered the other to cover my right flank from HOMBLEUX also instructed to fire into small wood near GRECOURT where enemy reported concentrating.

3 pm Report from Lt. Poole ammunition running out, enemy pressing hard on right flank. Orders sent to Lt. Poole to hold on at all costs.

3.30 pm Heavy & determined enemy attack all along my front, losses from enemy machine gun enfilade fire heavy. Right flank seen to be falling back on HOMBLEUX.

3.45 pm Found troops on immediate left as far as Railway embankment had withdrawn. Ordered slow withdrawal from HOMBLEUX from the right, heavily engaged with enemy at close quarters during withdrawal & suffered heavy casualties. Remainder of my garrison absorbed in existing line from HOMBLEUX to Rly embankment on left. Assisted in fighting rear guard action during retirement on BACANCOURT CANAL LINE.

7 pm Reported to 60^th Bde H^dQtrs at CRESSY and ordered to move my company to BILANCOURT.

Ordered by CRE to move to RETHONVILLERS. No 2 Section ordered to report to 60^th Bde for demolition work. Owing to casualties of 24^th inst. Necessary to for 3 Sections. No 1 Section absorbed in Nos. 2, 3 & 4. . . .”

The table below shows that four men of the company were killed in action at Canizy and three more died between the 25^th and the 28^th of March, probably as a result of that action.

The company War Diary indicates that during the month of March 1918 battle casualties for the month were:

The combination of 2 men killed, 3 men missing, 1 man missing, believed wounded and 1 man missing, believed killed would make the seven men listed in the table below. Obviously missing men were later determined to have been killed.

The company strength at the end of March 1918 was reported to be 7 Officers and 174 Other Ranks. With a nominal strength of about 230 officers and men, the company was at about 79% strength.

As an old combat engineer in the United States Army I could not resist the temptation to analyze Major Massie’s actions in the Canizy Canal action on the 24^th and 25^th of March 1918. The role that his company was placed in was typical of the secondary role of combat engineer units; that is, to fight as infantry. His mission was particularly dangerous in that he was ordered to take up a defensive position on the right flank of the 60^th Brigade, making his unit in fact the most susceptible to being turned by the advancing German forces. As an officer obviously trained in infantry tactics, Massie took the following steps to accomplish his mission:

1. He first sent forward scouts to make a reconnaissance of the situation. This enabled him to determine the enemy situation without moving his entire company directly into a possible ambush.

2. He sent his company headquarters and transport section to the rear to avoid having them become engaged in any pending action.

3. He advanced his company to its defensive position in “artillery formation.” This formation kept his company dispersed by moving with sections, probably in column, but separated from each other by perhaps 50 yards or more. This formation is meant to reduce casualties in case of enemy artillery or machine gun fire engaging the unit while it was on the move.

4. He deployed the company in a defensive position with three sections on line and one in reserve.

5. He collected stragglers from other units to reinforce his company in its defensive position.

6. He established contact with the infantry battalion on his left flank and tried to establish contact with a unit on his right flank.

7. He requested a resupply of ammunition and additional machine guns as soon as he saw that the enemy attack on his right flank was becoming dangerous.

8. He committed his reserve section along with some men of an infantry regiment that he had collected when it became obvious that his right flank was hard pressed. He resisted the temptation to commit his reserve prematurely.

9. He deployed two machine guns from a machine gun company in such a way as to cover the enemy’s main avenue of approach (the Hombleux – Ham road) and his right flank where the enemy threat was most serious.

11. He quickly reorganized and consolidated his company after withdrawing from the line.

Major Massie did an outstanding job in this most dangerous action and deservedly received the Military Cross for his leadership at Canizy. His section officers, non-commissioned officers and men also performed superbly during this fight and were instrumental in delay the German advance in this sector. Lieutenant F.H. Poole, R.E., who commanded No. 3 section on the right flank during the battle had only joined the company on the 26^th of February 1918. Less than a month after joining he found himself in a very dangerous situation on the right flank of the 60^th Brigade, 20^th Division. Lieutenant Poole was awarded the Military Cross for his actions a Canizy.

The London Gazette of 12 July 1918 announced the awards of the Military Medal to two men of the 83^rd Field Company; 46205 Corporal J.M. Joyce (page 8320) and 2^nd Corporal C.H. Gibson (page 8317). The company war diary entries during the period 21-29 April 1918 indicate that both men were recommended from the medals; hence, the London Gazette announcements on the 12^th of July 1918 must certainly be for their actions at Canizy and both men probably were in No. 3 section under Lieutenant Poole.

REFERENCES

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3. Hart’s Annual Army List, Her Majesty’s Local Indian Forces, 1 July 1884, p. 409f.

4. The New Annual Army List, Militia List, Yeomanry Cavalry List, and Indian Civil Service List, 1889.

5. The Army List, 1892, p. 203.

6. The Army List, 1902, p. 947b.

7. Hart’s Annual Army List, 1906, pp. 887, 892, 952 and 1048.

8. Hart’s Annual Army List, 1908, p. 806.

9. The Army List, 1912, p. 766.

14. The Monthly Army List, June 1919, p. 817h.

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16. The Indian Army List, January 1924, p. 536.

22. Air Force List, November 1941, p. 212.

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26. The Quarterly Army List, August 1946, Part 2, p. 2581a.

1. BEHAN, T.L. Bulletins and Other State Intelligence for the Year 1864. Harrison and Sons, London Gazette Office, London, 1864, p. 414.

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3. HUNTER, A.A. (editor). Cheltenham College Register, 1841-1910. G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., London, 1911, p. 173.

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8. SHAKESPEAR, H.J.C. The Wild Sports of India: with Remarks on the Breeding and Bearing of Horses and the Formation of Light Irregular Cavalry. Smith, Elder and Co., Cornhill, 1860.

9. UNIVERSITY OF LONDON. Officers Training Corps Roll of War Service, 1914-1918.

1. 1881 England Census for Henry Shakespear, Sussex, Hastings St Leonards, District 21

2. 1911 Census of England and Wales for John Henry Childe Shakespear, Hove, Sussex, RG 11/1030.

2. janetmhicks1: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/50500753/person/190093579617/facts

3. bonsaitree: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/14194418/person/18377885573/facts

4. gardiner: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/42024853/person/19717552379/facts

2. 4^th Cavalry (India): Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Cavalry_(India)

3. ABBOT, H.E. Sonepore Reminiscences: Years 1840-96. https://books.google.com/books?id=thhDAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA229&lpg=PA229&dq=Captain+Frank+Shakespear&source=bl&ots=K1W7A7p6Sb&sig=TD9_GbL0LgyA40MMprEPvEgSsRk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi7vPHGjPjUAhVKOT4KHZmnDCkQ6AEINjAD#v=onepage&q=Captain%20Frank%20Shakespear&f=false

4. The British and Commonwealth Military Badge Forum (Post by Flatdog, 17 Sep 1914): http://www.britishbadgeforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41711

5. Calcutta paperchasing records. The Hunters’ Steeplechase, p. 150.

6. Find A Grave Memorial# 89375159.

7. Hull Maritime Museum.

8. IndiaNetzone: http://www.indianetzone.com/64/25th_regiment_bengal_native_infantry.htm

10. Ships Roll of Honour: http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Ships/SSAba.html

11. Tripod web site (Officers Died): http://glosters.tripod.com/offzdieds.htm

12. Uboat.net: http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/435.html

15. Officers of the Indian Army. ww.unithistories.com/officers/IndianArmy_officers_C01.html

2. The London Gazette, 24 June 1862, p. 3212.

3. The London Gazette, 30 September 1862, p. 4678.

4. The London Gazette, 4 March 1864, p. 1345 and 1348.

5. The London Gazette, 20 March 1866, p. 1913.

6. The London Gazette, 13 November 1866, p. 5995.

7. The Edinburgh Gazette, 16 November 1866, p. 1332.

9. The London Gazette, 12 November 1880, p. 5668.

10. The London Gazette, 27 February 1883, p. 1124.

11. The London Gazette, 25 August 1885, p. 4051.

12. The London Gazette, 18 December 1885, p. 6142.

14. The London Gazette, 26 November 1886, p. 5795.

16. The London Gazette, 21 January 1898, p. 377.

17. The London Gazette, 20 August 1889, p. 4526.

18. The London Gazette, 3 January 1899, p. 9.

19. The London Gazette, 10 October 1899, p. 6116.

20. The London Gazette, 13 December 1889, p. 7203.

21. The London Gazette, 27 July 1900, p. 4656.

22. The London Gazette, 17 August 1900, p. 5117.

24. The London Gazette, 12 October 1901, p. 392.

25. The London Gazette, 11 November 1902, p. 7168.

27. The London Gazette, 12 May 1903, p. 2994.

29. The London Gazette, 27 October 1908, p. 7750.

30. The London Gazette, 19 March 1909, p. 1928.

32. The Edinburgh Gazette, 3 January 1913, p. 3.

33. The Edinburgh Gazette, 27 February 1914.

34. The London Gazette, 19 May 1914, p. 4012.

38. The London Gazette, 3 September 1917, p. 9130.

41. The London Gazette, 10 August 1943, p. 3591.

1. Medal Index Card of Lieutenant John Henry Childe Shakespear, Royal Engineers.

2. Soldier’s Service Papers, John Henry Childe Shakespear.

3. Service papers of Major General George Robert James Shakespear, WO 76/550.

4. Officer’s Service Papers: WO 339/100141. National Archives, Lieutenant John Henry Childe Shakespear, Royal Engineers, 1914-1922.

5. India Office Pension Record for Henry John Childe Shakespeare.

6. India Office Pension Record for Henry Alexander Shakespeare.

1. Allen’s Indian Mail and Official Gazette, Vol. XXXI. William H. Allen and Co., London, 1873, p. 124.

2. Andrews Newspaper Index Card, 1791-1976, Alexander Blake Shakespear.

3. Colburn’s United Service Magazine and Naval and Military Journal, 1861, Part III, Hurst and Blackett Publishers, London, 1861, p. 143.

4. The Calcutta Monthly Journal, 1837. Samuel Smith and Co., Calcutta, 1838, p. 60.

5. The Herald (Scotland), 20 February 1998: Obituary of Clare, Duchess of Sutherland.

6. The Times, 26 August 1885, p. 6, “THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN.”

2. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 for John Henry C Shakespear, 1898, Q4-Oct-Nov-Dec

3. London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1906

5. UK, Civil Engineer Lists, 1818-1930, Associate Members, 1926.

6. Institution of Civil Engineers List of Associate Members, 1926, p. 227.

7. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995 for Henry John Childe Shakespear, 1884.

8. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995 for William Henry Sullivan Shakespear, 1941.

9. Burial Record, Allahabad Cantonment, Francis Shakespear, 1905.

10. England and Wales National Probate Calendar, 1949, for Alexander Blake Shakespear p. 135.

29. England and Wales National Probate Calendar, 1915, for William Henry Irvine Shakespear p. 190.

30. India, Select Births and Baptisms, 1786-1947 (Henry Talbot Shakespear).

31. India, Select Marriages, 1792-1948 (Henry Talbot Shakespear).

32. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995 for Henry Talbot Shakespear, 1965.

33. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995 for Richard Harry Baird Shakespear, 1943.

34. United Kingdom, Army Roll of Honour, 1939-1945 (Richard Harry Baird Shakespear).

35. Surrey, England, Church of England Marriages, 1754-1937 for Henry Childe Shakespeare, Mitcham, St Peter and St Paul, 1888 Oct-1899 Dec.

1. UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 for J H C Shakespear, Liverpool, England, 1937, Aug.

2. UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 for John Henry Shakespear, Liverpool, England, 1931, Apr.

3. UK, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960 for John Henry Shakespear, London, 1920, December.

4. U.K. Outward Passenger List, Southampton, 1946, S.S. Stathnaver.

5. U.K. Outward Passenger List, Liverpool, 1948, S.S. Warwickshire.

6. U.K. Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960, for John H Shakespear, Tilbury, 20^th August 1958.

ENDNOTES

[1] Lacock Abbey in the village of Lacock, Wiltshire, England, was founded in the early 13th century by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, as a nunnery of the Augustinian order.

[2] The Calcutta Monthly Journal, 1837. Samuel Smith and Co., Calcutta, 1838, p. 60.

[3] Ensign was the rank given to newly commissioned officers early in the 19^th century. It was the equivalent of a 2^nd Lieutenant and the rank would be renamed within a few years of Henry’s commissioning.

[4] The Shakespeare Family History Site: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~shakespeare/military/capt_wm_hy/capt_wm_hy.htm

[5] The Shakespear Family History Site.

[6] India Office Pension Record for Henry John Childe Shakespeare.

[7] Nagpure was founded in 1703 by the Gonds King Bakht Buland Shah of Deogarh and later became a part of the Maratha Empire under the royal Bhonsale dynasty. The British East India Company took over Nagpur in the 19th century and made it the capital of the Central Provinces and Berar. After the first reorganization of states, the city lost its status as the capital. Following the informal "Nagpur Pact" between political leaders, it was made the second capital of Maharashtra.

[8] The fort at Sitabuldi was site of the Battle of Sitabuldi in 1817, is located atop a hillock in central Nagpur, Maharashtra, India. The fort was built by Mudhoji II Bhonsle, also known as Appa Sahib Bhosle, of the Kingdom of Nagpur, just before he fought against the British East India Company during the Third Anglo-Maratha War. The area surrounding the hillock, now known as Sitabuldi, is an important commercial hub for Nagpur. To the south is Nagpur Railway Station and behind it is Tekdi Ganapati, a temple of Ganesha. The fort is now home to the Indian Army's 118th infantry battalion.

[9] The London Gazette, 26 July 1861, p. 966.

[10] India Office Pension Record for Henry John Childe Shakespeare.

[11] The Shakespeare Family History Site.

[12] Although it has been assumed that Henry John Childe Shakespear returned directly to the United Kingdom upon his retirement from the Indian Army in 1861 and it is known that he married Jane Boxall in Ireland in 1863, no entry for him or his family could be found in the 1871 Census of England and Wales. They must have been living in Ireland during that time and did not move to England until after 1871 but before the 1881 census was taken.

^{^[13]} England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995 for Henry John Childe Shakespear, 1884.

[14] St Leonards-on-Sea (commonly known as St Leonards) has been part of Hastings, East Sussex, England, since the late 19th century though it retains a sense of separate identity. It lies to the west of central Hastings. The original part of the settlement was laid out in the early 19th century as a new town: a place of elegant houses designed for the well-off; it also included a central public garden, a hotel, an archery range, assembly rooms and a church. Today's St Leonards has extended well beyond that original design, although the original town still exists within it. The Hylands Hotel still exists today and is known as The Hylands Inn Hotel and Bar at 1 Boscobel Rd, Hastings TN38.

[15] Rosslare Strand, or simply Rosslare, is a village and seaside resort in County Wexford, Ireland. The name Rosslare Strand is used to distinguish it from the nearby community of Rosslare Harbour, site of the Rosslare Europort.

[16] General Henry William Blake, Madras Infantry

2^nd Lieutenant, 13 Dec 1836

Lieutenant, 8 Oct 1839

Captain, 7 Jul 1845

Major, 16 Nov 1853

Lieutenant Colonel, 29 Aug 1859

Colonel, 12 Mar 1863

Major General, 19 Oct 1868

Lieutenant General, 1 Oct 1877

General, 18 Jul 1879

Unemployed 1 Jul 1881 (Supernumerary List)

[17] Eric W. Nye, Pounds Sterling to Dollars: Historical Conversion of Currency, accessed Friday, September 08, 2017, http://www.uwyo.edu/numimage/currency.htm.

[18] The Shakespear Family Tree.

[19] HUNTER, A.A. (editor). Cheltenham College Register, 1841-1910. G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., London, 1911, p. 173.

[20] Ibid.

[21]Hart’s Annual Army List, 1873, p. 408.

[22] Tent pegging (sometimes spelled tent-pegging or tentpegging) is a cavalry sport of ancient origin, and is one of only ten equestrian disciplines officially recognized by the International Equestrian Federation. Used narrowly, the term refers to a specific mounted game with ground targets. More broadly, it refers to the entire class of mounted cavalry games involving edged weapons on horseback, for which the term "equestrian skill-at-arms" is also used.

[23] HUNTER, A.A. (editor). Cheltenham College Register, 1841-1910. G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., London, 1911, p. 173 and The London Gazette, 27 February 1883, p. 1124.

[24] The London Gazette, 14 September 1886, p. 4422.

^{^[25]}Tripod web site (Officers Died): http://glosters.tripod.com/offzdieds.htm and India Office Pension Record for Henry Alexander Shakespeare.

[26] The Shakespeare Family History Site.

^{^[27]} Indian Army Quarterly List for 1 January 1912, p. 72., The Army List, 1892, p. 203 and The London Gazette, 30 September 1862, p. 4678.

^{^[28]}Service papers of Major General George Robert James Shakespear, WO 76/550 and Wikipedia: 2^nd Lancers (Gardner’s Horse). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_Lancers_(Gardner%27s_Horse).

[29] The Indian Staff Corps was a branch of the Indian Army during the British Raj. Separate Staff Corps were formed in 1861 for the Bengal, Madras and Bombay Armies, which were later combined into the Indian Army. They were meant to provide officers for the native regiments and for the staff and army departments. They were also designed to offer placements for civil and political appointments for posts which Indian Army officers might be eligible. Those officers who were already employed by the Army had the option to join the Staff Corps or to stay employed under the old conditions of work. In that sense, the Indian Staff Corps was seen by the majority of entrants as synonymous with the Regular Officer Corps of the Indian Armies. This is not to be confused with officers holding staff appointments. To reduce confusion, the term "Indian Staff Corps" in relation to officers on regimental duty was withdrawn by Lord Kitchener during his unification of the Indian Army. From that time, officers were gazetted to the "Indian Army".

[30] Hart’s Annual Army List, 1906, p. 892 shows this promotion effective the 17^th of March 1865.

[31] Army Lists for this period show him as serving in the Bengal Service Corps.

[32] Hart’s Annual Army List, 1906, p. 892 shows his promotion to Major General effective the 17^th of September 1899.

[33] Surbiton is a suburban area of south-west London within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated next to the River Thames, 11.0 miles south west of central London. Surbiton was formerly within the County of Surrey, but became part of Greater London in 1965 following the London Government Act 1963, together with many areas including neighbouring Kingston and Richmond. Surbiton possesses a mixture of Art-Deco courts, more recent residential blocks and grand 19th century townhouses blending into a sea of semi-detached 20th century housing estates.

[34] Winstone, pp. 28 and 29.

[35] Storrington is a large village in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England, and one of two in the civil parish of Storrington and Sullington. Storrington lies at the foot of the north side of the South Downs.

[36]Wexford is a town in southeast Ireland, at the mouth of the River Slaney. It’s known for its medieval lanes and the opera festival held in the modern National Opera House. West Gate Heritage Tower is a restored 13th-century tollgate. It's next to the old town walls and ruined 12th-century Selskar Abbey. The Bullring market place, once a bull-baiting site, has a statue marking the 1798 Rebellion against British rule.

[37] Clare, Duchess of Sutherland; born June 12, 1903, died February 17, 1998. CLARE, Duchess of Sutherland, who has died at the age of 94, was the second wife of the 5th Duke of Sutherland, and at one time was chatelaine of Dunrobin Castle, the most northerly of Scotland's great houses. She was the aunt of the Countess of Sutherland, who inherited the thirteenth-century Scots earldom from her uncle on his death in 1963. Clare Josephine O'Brien was the second daughter of Herbert O'Brien of Calcutta. In 1922 she married Alexander Blake Shakespeare, a director of Begg, Sutherland & Co, based in Cawnpore, and who served as secretary to the Upper India Chamber of Commerce from 1905 until 1912. They had one daughter, Wendy, but the couple became estranged, and Clare then married Lt-Col Vincent Ashworth Blundell Dunkerley, DSO, JP of the 13th/18th Royal Hussars by whom she had a son, Michael.

[38] I find it interesting to know how much the Pound Sterling was worth in terms of U.S. Dollars during different periods of time in the lives of the people that I am researching.

[39] His time in the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers is of interest to the author because it provides an additional link to J.H.C. Shakespear in addition to Leetham’s marriage to Shakespear’s aunt.

[40] A Præpositor was a senior student at an English public school who is given authority over other students.

[41] King William’s College Register.

[42] Just when he transferred to the Infantry Branch of the Indian Army from the cavalry and staff corps could not be determined from official records.

[43] Published by Jonathan Cape Ltd., 30 Bedford Square, London WC I, ISBN 0 224 01194 4. The author of this research work was fortunate to obtain a copy of this book.

[44] Winstone, pp. 107 & 108.

[45] Ibid., p. 142.

[46] London Gazette, 8 January 1901, p. 160.

[47] London Gazette, 14 November 1902, p. 7245.

[48] London Gazette, 4 December 1903, p. 8027.

[49] London Gazette, 22 March 1910, pp. 2034 & 2035.

[50] http://www.researchingww1.co.uk/12th-cavalry

[51] Confidential review reports on Indian Army units for 1913-1914: IOR/L/MIL/7/17023.

[52] He fought in the Second World War between 1943 and 1944, in Burma with the 3rd Gurkha Rifles, and was wounded. He was awarded the Military Cross. He fought in the Malayan Campaign between 1948 and 1949.

[53] Army List, December 1920, pp. 141 and 1981b.

[54] J.H.C. Shakespear reports his father’s birthplace as Wrexford, County Cork, Ireland when he completed an employment application in 1934.

[55] Mitcham is a district in south west London, located within the London Borough of Merton. It is centered 7.2 miles south-west of Charing Cross.

[56] Frank Shakespear obviously was deceased when this article was written.

[57] Hart’s Annual Army List, 1906, p. 952.

[58] Army List, December 1920, pp. 83, 799 and 2621. Army List, June 1926, p. 324b. Army List, October 1935, pp. 138 and 157a.

[59] Hart’s Annual Army List, 1906, p. 1048.

[60] Army List, August 1949, p. 2070d. Army List, 1953, p. 1360g. War Services of British Officers, 1939-1945.

[61] Indian Army List, January 1924.

[62] Army List, August 1914, p. 424g. Army List, 1953, p. 424d.

[63] Army List, April 1938, p. 302c.

[64] Army List, April 1938, p 885b. War Services of British Officers, 1939-1945.

[65] Army List, June 1926, p. 880c. Army List, August 1949, p. 605.

[66] Army List, December 1920, pp. 1999 and 2192. Army List, June 1926, p.868a.

[67] Indian Army List, January 1924.

[68] This application was made using Army Form M.T. 393A.

[69] There is no trace of this establishment now unfortunately, even the Hall has gone.

[70] INGLEFIELD, p. 218, 224-225.

[71] Ibid., p. 226.

[72] Ibid., pp. 229 and 230.

[73] Massie’s first Military Cross was awarded to him as a Temporary Lieutenant, London Gazette, 14 January 1916, p. 29438. He was awarded a bar to his Military Cross, re: London Gazette, 16 September 1918, p. 30901, most certainly for the action at Canizy.

[74] Ibid., p. 278.

[75] Ibid., pp. 282 and 283.

[76] Soldiers Died in the Great War.

[77] This medical category indicated that he was free from serious organic diseases, was able to stand service on lines of communication in France or in garrisons in the tropics. He was able to march 5 miles and to see to shoot with glasses and could hear well.

[78] In 2017 a one-bedroom flat in Park Mansions was selling for £1,250,000.

[79] Confidential Report from The Crown Agents for the Colonies, dated 17 March 1936.

[80] Apparently periods of service abroad in the Colonial Office were reckoned as they were in the military; that is, from the date of departure from the U.K. until the date of arrival in the U.K. upon completion of the service abroad.

[81] Government of Sierra Leone Certificate of Service.

[82] T.M.V. = Temperate Merchant Vessel.

[83]The price of copper crashed in 1931. An international agreement restricted output. This caused a catastrophe in Northern Rhodesia where many employees were sacked, and put an end to hopes which many Europeans had held of turning Northern Rhodesia into another white dominion like Southern Rhodesia. Many settlers took this opportunity to move back to Southern Rhodesia, while Africans returned to their farms. Despite the economic crash large firms were still able to maintain a profit. The fact that unemployed workers had left meant there were no increases in taxation, and labour costs remained low. At a 1932 conference of copper producers in New York the Rhodesian companies objected to further market intervention, and when no agreement could be made, the previous restrictions on competition lapsed. This placed the Northern Rhodesians in a very powerful position. Meanwhile, the British South Africa Company sold its remaining Southern Rhodesian holdings to the Southern Rhodesian government in 1933 giving it the capital to invest in developing other mines. It negotiated an agreement between Rhodesian Railways and the copper mine companies for exclusive use, and used resources freed up to buy a major stake in the Anglo American Corporation. By the end of the 1930s, Northern Rhodesian copper mining was booming.

[84] Shakespear service papers: Letter of reference from J.B. Callander to The Under-Secretary of State, The War Office, dated 22 December 1937.

[85] This was the address of the Hogarth Bridge Club.

[86] This place name is spelled incorrectly. The town was Ejirin, not Ejinrin.

[87] Laterite is a soil and rock type rich in iron and aluminum, and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by intensive and long-lasting weathering of the underlying parent rock.

[88] These medals are in the author’s collection.

Name	Relation to Head of Family	Marital Status	Age	Profession or Occupation	Where Born
Henry Shakespear	Head	Married	66	Lt Colonel Retired List	Allahabad, India
Jane Shakespear	Wife	Married	41		Carlow, Ireland
Louisa Shakespear	Daughter	Unmarried	15	Scholar	Weston-upon-Mare, Somersetshire
Alexander B. Shakespear	Son		6	Scholar	County Wexford Ireland

Age:	18 years and 9 months
Height:	5 feet 11½ inches
Weight:	144 pounds
Chest measurement (fully expanded):	36½ inches (36 inches)
Range of chest expansion:	3½ inches (2 inches)
Vaccination marks:	4 on left arm
Vision:	6/6 in both eyes
Physical defects:	None

Date of Promotion or Appointment	Rank or Position
25 April 1917	Private, Royal Fusiliers.
30 April 1917	Pioneer, Royal Engineers.
18 August 1917	2^nd Lieutenant, Royal Engineers.
1 July 1921	2^nd Lieutenant, Royal Engineers Reserve of Officers.
10 December 1941	Squadron Leader, Royal Air Force.
20 March 1942	2^nd Lieutenant, Indian Army.
1 July 1942	War Service Lieutenant and Temporary Captain, Indian Army.
7 November 1943	War Service Captain and Temporary Major, Indian Army.

Date of Appointment	Position and Unit
31 December 1920	Assistant Engineer with The Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway Company, Ltd.
May 1925	Engineer Agent for Monolithic Concrete Houses, Ltd.
28 April 1926	Executive Engineer, Department of Public Works, Sierra Leone.
3 July 1931	Executive Director of Public Works, Northern Rhodesia.
23 April 1935	Garrison Engineer, Aldershot.
27 October 1936	Deputy Chief Engineer, Aldershot.
28 October 1936	Temporary Engineer, Public Works Department, Nigeria.
14 January 1938	Garrison Engineer and Deputy Chief Engineers, Tidworth.
10 October 1938	Deputy Chief Royal Engineers, Shrivenham.
10 December 1941	Squadron Leader, Works Squadron, R.A.F. Malaya and Singapore.
1July 1942	Field Engineer, Air Force Works, India.
February 1944	Independent Garrison Engineer, India.
7 February 1915	Deputy Commander Royal Engineers, Wiltshire.

Date Qualified	Qualification
February 1917	Degree in Mechanical Engineering and Motive Power.
8 January 1924	Associate Member, Institution of Civil Engineers

Dates	Course of Training
1915-1917	Cadet, University of London Officer Training Corps (Engineer Unit).
30 April – 17 August 1917	Infantry and Engineer Recruit Training.
18 August 1917 – 18 January 1918	Young Officer’s Course, School of Military Engineering.

Location	Period of Service	Length of Service
Hounslow, London	Private, Royal Fusiliers,25 April – 29 April 1917	5 days
Newark, Nottinghamshire	Pioneer, Royal Engineers,30 April – 17 August 1917	108 days
Chatham, Kent	2^nd Lieutenant, Royal Engineers, 18 August 1917 – 17 January 1918	152 days
France and Flanders	2^nd Lieutenant, Royal Engineers,18 January 1918 – 10 February 1919	1 year and 23 days
India	2^nd Lieutenant, Royal Engineers,(Reserved of Officers), 1 July 1921 – 1 February 1922	215 days
Malaya, Singapore and India	Squadron Leader, Royal Air Force, 10 December 1941 – 27 February 1942	79 days
India	Acting Major, Indian Engineers, 20 March 1942 – 6 February 1945	2 years and 324 days
Salisbury, Wiltshire	7 February 1945 – 14 August 1946	1 year and 188 days
Total Service in the Ranks:		113 days
Total Commissioned Service:		6 years and 251 days

Location	Period of Service
Home Service	2 years and 88 days
Service Abroad	4 years and 296 days
Total Service	7 years and 19 days

Date	Medical Condition
25 March 1917	Medical examination for admission to an Officer Cadet Unit.
25 April 1917	Medical examination upon enlistment in the Army.
4 May 1917	Vaccinated against smallpox.
10 February 1919	Classified in Medical Category B1 upon completion of military service.
16 April 1935	Medical examination for position of Civilian Garrison Engineer at Aldershot.
August 1937	Surgery to remove his appendix.
21 December 1937	Medical examination in preparation for being accepted for temporary employment by The War Office. 1. Free from bodily injury or defects. 2. No hearing or sight defects. 3. Height: 5 feet 11 inches. 4. Weight: 11 stone; about 154 pounds. 5. Had not had tuberculosis. 6. Had not had epilepsy or hernias. 7. Had been vaccinated for smallpox, with negative results. 8. Willing to be re-vaccinated.

Regimental Number	Rank	Name	Date of Death	Cause ofDeath
211772	Lance Corporal	Ashford, R.	24-03-1918	Killed in action
398821	Sapper	Jones, Thomas	24-03-1918	Killed in action
46139	Sapper	Sharpe, George William	24-03-1918	Killed in action
217282	Sapper	Tuckett, Frank Henry	24-03-1918	Killed in action
180086	Sapper	Coles, Charles Henry	25-03-1918	Died of wounds
158806	Sapper	Brunsdon, Tom	27-03-1918	Died
48829	Sergeant	Pepall, George	28-03-1918	Died of wounds