Albert Henry Shepherd was the eldest son of Henry and Ada Shepherd of Caroline Street, St Clements.  He was baptised at St Clements Church on 26 July 1896.  He attended the Sunday School at William Street Wesleyan Chapel, being awarded the infants class prize in 1902.  After leaving school he worked in Dean’s Ironmongers in Cowley Road.

At the outbreak of war in August 1914 he was at camp with the Territorials and was mobilised.  He landed in France in June 1915 and was wounded on 22 July 1916 but recovered.  Having joined up as a bugler, he was promoted to Lance Corporal in the 1st/4th Battalion, Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry. He was wounded during an attack by the Battalion on the village of Ronssoy on the Somme on 5 April 1917 and he died on 11 April 1917 at the age of 20.  The Oxford Times recorded that he had volunteered to lead a very dangerous patrol to discover the enemy position in order to enable the battalion to make a successful attack.  He was buried at Bray Military Cemetery, Bray-sur-Somme, France which was the site of one of the Casualty Clearing Stations.   

Kevin Tobin