2nd Lieutenant Lewis Charles Burford Sheppard
Royal Flying Corps
Killed in Action
Date of Birth: 1896
Place of Birth: Flushing, Cornwall
Date of Death: 21st April 1917 aged 20
Buried: Buried Varenne Military Cemetery
Commemorated in the Parish Church, Flushing, Cornwall
and Shaldon War Memeorial
2nd Lieutenant Lewis Charles Burford Sheppard, aged 20, was the son of Herbert Charles Sheppard and his wife Gertrude Elizabeth, nee Leonard.
Born 1896 in Flushing, Cornwall, Lewis was educated at Radley College, Abingdon.
'He was a boy of more than average ability. A great talker and with many interests.
He left his mark, though he was not here long enough to become distinguished.'
He left Radley in 1914 to join the Somerset Light Infantry and was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant of 3rd Battalion on 8 January 1915. Serving with the Expeditionary Forces in France and Flanders he was then attached to the Duke of Wellington's West Riding Regiment.
Lewis was invalided home in August 1915 but once again joined the Somerset Light Infantry in March 2016. He transferred to the Royal Flying Corps and obtained his wings and Pilot's Certificate in March 1917. Sadly he was killed in action near Arras just six week later on 21 April 1917.
His commanding officer wrote, 'He was a very gallant fellow and a very fine pilot'.
Buried Varenne Military Cemetery, commemorated in the Parish Church, Flushing, Cornwall and Shaldon War Memorial
Lewis' father was an artist by profession. The family came to live in Shaldon later in their lives and lived for a while at 'Undercliff' before moving to 'Ingleside' where Herbert Charles died in 1932.
Gertrude died in 1959. They were survived by two of their children - Joyce Mary and Leonard Charles Sutton Sheppard
