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Captain Edward Wingfield SHAW DSO
1st Battalion Middlesex Regiment Date of birth: 19th February 1895 Date of death: 7th December 1916 Died of wounds aged 21 Buried at St Sever Cemetery, Officers Plot B Grave 3.35
Edward Wingfield Shaw was born at Anerley in Surrey on the 19th of February 1895 the younger son of Lieutenant Colonel George Jocelyn Shaw, Indian Army, and Elizabeth Henrietta (nee Court) Shaw of 24 Crescent Road, South Norwood Park, later of 14 Richmond Bridge Mansions East Twickenham in Middlesex. He was educated at Lancing College where he was in News House from January 1907 to December 1908 and at Dulwich College from January 1909 to July 1912. He went on to the Royal Military College Sandhurst from 1912 to 1914 from where he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Middlesex Regiment on the 15th of August 1914.He landed at Le Havre with the 1st Battalion of his regiment on the 11th of August 1914. On the 22nd of October 1914 the 1st Battalion Middlesex Regiment moved into defensive positions on a line between La Boutillerie and Rouge Bancs. For the next week they suffered from enemy shelling and sniping which reached a climax on the 29th when the German guns kept up a heavy fire throughout the day. Soon after midnight on the morning of the 30th the Germans were heard advancing for an attack, singing as they came. The Middlesex men held their fire until the advancing masses were within 40 yards of the British wire before opening a rapid fire which brought the enemy advance to a halt. Despite the withering fire being poured into their ranks a group of around fifty Germans managed to enter the Middlesex trench. Two attacks failed to move them from their gains as the German raiding party clung on to their new position. A final attack was organised by Captain Osborne, the commander of A Company which included cooks, servants and clerks which killed or captured every German in the trench and the line was restored. In the morning over two hundred dead enemy soldiers were counted lying in front of the British line. The battalion suffered sixteen dead and twenty five wounded in the attack, one of whom was Edward Shaw. For his part in this action, and while still a 2nd Lieutenant, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. The citation reads:- "For conspicuous gallantry on 30th October 1914 at La Boutillerie. In leading a part of his platoon to recover a lost trench he was wounded and compelled to retire, but, collecting another party, he went forward again to the attack, and entered the enemy's trench, being severely wounded a second time in so doing. As a result of his action the trench was recovered, thirty of the enemy were killed or wounded, and the remainder taken prisoners." He was evacuated to England from Boulogne on the 30th of October on board the Hospital Ship Asturias and landed at Southampton on the 2nd of November 1914. A Medical Board was convened at Caxton Hall on the 27th of November 1914 to report on his case: - "He received 2 bullet wounds from rifle bullets 1) through left tricep, numbness of hand and upper limb. 2) grazing right buttock muscle, no bone injury and wounds practically healed." A Medical Board which sat at Chatham on the 23rd of January 1915 declared that he was fit for general service. He was promoted to Lieutenant in February 1915 and to Temporary Captain on the 16th of March 1916, a rank he relinquished on the 28th of October 1916. He was mentioned in despatches twice in June 1915. On the 2nd of August 1915 he left his unit suffering from chicken pox and was evacuated to England from Boulogne on board the Hospital Ship "Grianaig" on the 7th of August 1915, landing at Dover later the same day. A Medical Board sat at the Military Hospital, Fort Pitt, Chatham on the 22nd of September 1915 to report on his condition: - "He was admitted into the field hospital at Wulverghem, Flanders on the 2nd of August for an attack of chicken pox and was transferred to England on the 7th Sept (sic) as convalescent. He is now free from infection and is sufficiently recovered to do light duty." He joined the 5th (Reserve) Battalion Middlesex Regiment on the 30th of September 1915. He returned to France on the 10th of February 1916 and was attached to the 8th Entrenching Battalion on the 24th of February. On the night of the 27th/28th of October 1916 the 1st Battalion Middlesex Regiment began preparations for an attack for an attack on the German trenches in front of Le Transloy known as "Rainy" and "Dewdrop" Trenches at les Boeufs and the enemy dugouts and a strong point to their rear. The attack was timed for 6am and the four companies were in position to the east of Les Boeufs by 5.30am. At the appointed hour A and C Companies led the battalion into the attack preceded by an intense supporting barrage from the supporting artillery. In spite of heavy rifle and machine gun fire on their flanks the two companies soon took Rainy Trench. Bombing parties were pushed forward under fire from Dewdrop Trench and from a strong point on the right but by 9.30am all objectives had been taken, the final enemy strong point falling to the survivors of C Company under the command of 2nd Lieutenant Brampton, their sole surviving officer. Although the Germans did not attempt a counterattack, their snipers fired at the wounded throughout the day. The battalion was relieved by the 4th Battalion Suffolk Regiment at 3am the following morning. Casualties for the attack were one officer killed with seven wounded and thirty five other ranks killed, one hundred and thirty six wounded and twenty nine missing. Edward Shaw was severely wounded during the attack suffering from a compound fracture of the right thigh, fractured left fingers and from a gaping wound of the left thigh. He was evacuated to the rear on board No.1 Ambulance Train on the 1st of November and was admitted to No. 2 British Red Cross Hospital at Rouen the following day where he died of his wounds six weeks later. His father applied for his medals in March 1918. He is commemorated on the war memorial at Dulwich College and on the memorial at the Royal Military College Sandhurst.

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