A very impressive Great War Gallipoli operations group of six awarded to Petty Officer 1st Class (Pensioner) J. F. Sheppard, Royal Navy: having retired in 1901 after active service in the Suakin operations 1884-85, he was recalled in the Great War, aged 52 years, and was decorated for his gallant work in motor lighters during the evacuation of the Peninsula

Distinguished Service Medal, G.V.R. (106247 J. F. Sheppard, P.O. 1 Cl., Gallipoli Opns 1915-16); Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse. 2 clasps, Suakin 1884, Suakin 1885 (Ord., H.M.S. Carysfort); 1914-15 Star (106247 P.O., R.N.); British War Medal 1914-20 (106247 P.O. 1, R.N.); Royal Navy L.S. & G.C., V.R., narrow suspension (P.O. 1 Cl., H.M.S. Penelope); Khedive’s Star 1882, together with Royal Navy Branch of the National Temperance League Medal, silver, with enamelled Bar for ‘Ten Years’, the second and the last with minor official corrections, light contact wear to the earlier awards, generally good very fine and an extremely rare combination of awards (7) £1000-1200

D.S.M. London Gazette 15 May 1916:
‘In recognition of services in the Eastern Mediterranean Squadron during the evacuation of the Gallipoli Peninsula in December 1915 to January 1916.’

James Frederick Sheppard was born in Creech, near Taunton in Somerset in November 1862 and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class shortly before his sixteenth birthday. Advanced to Ordinary Seaman in H.M.S. Bacchante in November 1881, he removed to the Carysfort in March of the following year and remained employed aboard the same ship until December 1886, in which period he was employed off Egypt in 1882 and in the Suakin operations of 1884-85. Steady advancement followed, Sheppard being appointed a Petty Officer 1st Class in May 1893, and he was awarded the L.S. & G.C. Medal in August 1897, prior to being pensioned ashore in February 1901, when he enrolled in the Royal Fleet Reserve.

Recalled on the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914 as a Petty Officer (Pensioner), he joined the cruiser H.M.S. Europa, bound for the Dardanelles, and was actively employed in the Gallipoli operations 1915-16, not least on motor lighters, in which craft he would have frequented the beaches at night, transporting troops and supplies. Having performed similar duties during the evacuation of the Peninsula, his name appeared in Rear-Admiral Wester Wemyss’ despatch of 22 December 1915, in which he was among those cited for ‘meritorious service during the period of the evacuation of the Suvla and ANZAC positions’, and more specifically for work in motor lighters. He was duly awarded the D.S.M.

Sheppard removed to the cruiser St. George on New Year’s day 1916, in which ship he remained employed in Mediterranean waters until that August, when he returned to the U.K. to take up an appointment in Vivid. He was finally demobilised in February 1919; the whereabouts of his Victory Medal 1914-19 are unknown.

Sold with the recipient’s original parchment certificates of service and a portrait photograph, circa 1905; together with a full file of related research, including a copy of a biographical article, “A Pensioner at Gallipoli”, which appeared in the Winter 1995 edition of The Gallipolian.