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LESLIE (Shane) Ed.
Memoirs of Brigadier-General Gordon Shephard, DSO, MC.
1st Ed., 233pp., 7 illus. (inc. attractive col. frontis. of his Memorial Scroll, several portraits & his original 'propeller' wooden grave marker), 2 maps. Privately Printed.
1924
#68281
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![[HLMainPic]](booksThumbs/68281.jpg "Click on the left or right of the image for more images")
Gordon Strachy Shephard, formerly of the Royal Fusiliers, was an early entrant to the fledgling Royal Flying Corps and went to France with No. 4 Squadron in 1914. He later commanded, in succession, Nos. 10 and 6 Squadrons, then 8 and 12 Wings on the Western Front. He was killed in an accident on 19th January 1918, aged thirty-two, and his grave is in Lapugnoy Military Cemetery. Contains an account of his youth at Summerfields & Eton, much on pre-war yachting but also an account of his service career & extracts from letters from France 1914-17 + list of sorties undertaken in 1914. Orig. paper covd. boards with cloth backstrip, labels to front & sp., VG & rare with neat ink presentation inscrip. from the compiler: "Oswald Birley from Shane Leslie." Note: Sir Shane Leslie, 3rd Baronet, was an Irish born diplomat & writer, cousin of Winston Churchill & supporter of Irish Home Rule. During the war he served in an Ambulance Corps until invalided out, when he was sent to Washington to help the British ambassador obtain American intervention in the war. He was a contemporary of Gordon Shephard at Eton which presumably accounts for him writing this memoir. The recipient, Sir Owald Hornby Joseph Birley, MC, was a portrait painter favoured by the Royal Family who painted, inter al, George V, George VI, Queen Mary, The late Queen Mother & Queen Elizabeth II; also Winston Churchill & many other distinguished figures of his time. He was father of Mark & grandfather of Robin Birley of Annabel's fame. A copy with most interesting provenance. See illustration on our website.
£250
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