Leslie SHEPPERD

Image courtesy of Les Shepperd's cousin Mike Harrison.

Leslie Shepperd, known as Les, was born on 23 February 1922 in Grandpont, Oxford. He was son of William (known by his second name of Stanley, or Stan) and Winifred (née Godwin). Stan was born in Jericho and brought up on Osney Lane in St Thomas’s; his family had lived and worked in the area for several generations. In his late teens, towards the end of the First World War, Stan served in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve as a telegraphist. He later joined the General Post Office (GPO) as a sorting clerk and telegraphist, working at Oxford’s main Post Office on St Aldates. He stayed with the GPO for the whole of his working life.

In 1921 Stan married Winifred Godwin, who was from Grandpont. Her father Ernest worked for Alden’s the butchers, who were based at Eastwyke Farm off the Abingdon Road and had several shops in the Covered Market. Winifred lived with her parents at 100 Marlborough Road and worked as a clerk for the furniture store William Baker & Sons Ltd, on the corner of Broad Street and Cornmarket. She had a sister, Dorothy, who was ten years younger. After their marriage, Stan and Winifred lived with her family in Marlborough Road.

Stan and Winifred’s first son Leslie was born on 23 February 1922. He probably attended St Matthew’s Infants School on Marlborough Road; he then went to South Oxford School on Thames Street. He was a keen footballer and a member of the 1st Oxford Boys’ Brigade, which was founded and run by Revd DK Stather Hunt, the long-serving vicar of St Matthew’s. Les was in the Brigade's swimming team.

Les’s brother John was born in February 1935 and baptised at St Matthew’s Church. Around this time Winifred's parents Ernest and Mary Godwin moved to nearby Kineton Road. Winifred's younger sister Dorothy got married in 1937 and Les, Dorothy's nephew, was best man at the wedding.

The 1939 register, taken four weeks after the outbreak of the Second World War, recorded the Shepperd family at 100 Marlborough Road. Stan was working as a wages clerk at the Post Office and volunteering as an Air Raid Precaution (ARP) warden. Les (aged seventeen) was employed as a clerk in the wages department at Pressed Steel in Cowley. Winifred was carrying out ‘unpaid domestic duties’ at home and John was only four. Stan’s widowed mother Fanny Shepperd was living with them.

During the war Les joined the Royal Navy, service number P/JX 311742. He rose to the rank of Leading Seaman, and served aboard HMS Penelope. This ship formed part of the Western Mediterranean Fleet, and was nicknamed HMS Pepperpot for the number of times she was holed in air attacks as she awaited repair in harbour in Malta. The crew plugged the holes with long pieces of wood, leading to another nickname: HMS Porcupine.

Les probably saw action at Salerno (in Operation Avalanche, south-east of Naples, Italy); the Greek Dodecanese islands; the northern Israeli port of Haifa; Gibraltar (Operation Stonewall); and then in the assault on Anzio, 30 miles south of Rome. Operation Shingle, as it was called, was a practice run for the D-Day landings. On 18 February 1944, HMS Penelope was leaving Naples for Anzio when she came under attack from a German U-boat (submarine). Direct hits on both engine and boiler rooms meant she sank quickly with the loss of 417 men, including Les. He was 21. There were 206 survivors.

Les is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial (panel 81, column 3) and there is a memorial to those lost on HMS Penelope in the naval church of St Ann’s in Portsmouth dockyard. Les is also named in the Oxford City Second World War Roll of Honour in the church of St Michael at the Northgate on Cornmarket.

Les’s parents continued to live in Grandpont and they gave the Colour (flag or banner) of the 1st Oxford Boys’ Brigade in Les’s memory. His younger cousin Mike Harrison was proud to carry it in many parades.

Les's father Stan died in 1970, aged 70, and his mother Winifred in 1994, aged 92. 

Research by Siobhan Lancaster; with thanks to Mike Harrison, cousin of Les Shepperd, for photographs, memories, and additional information.

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