Shaw, EW
(1895 - 1916)
Key Facts
DATE OF BIRTH:
19th February 1895
YEARS ATTENDED THE COLLEGE:
1909 - 1912
HOME ADDRESS WHEN AT THE COLLEGE:
24 Crescent Road, South Norwood Park
REGIMENT
1st Battalion, Middlesex Regiment
FINAL RANK:
Captain
DATE OF DEATH:
7th December 1916
AGE AT DEATH:
21
WHERE HE DIED (or was wounded)
Rouen
LOCATION OF GRAVE OR MEMORIAL:
St. Sever Cemetery, Rouen. Officers, B. 3. 35.
Captain Edward Wingfield Shaw
Born on February 19th 1895, Edward was the younger of two sons of George Shaw, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Indian Army, and his wife, Elizabeth. He spent two years at Lancing College before coming to Dulwich at the beginning of 1909 and was subsequently an Alleynian for the next three and a half years. When he left Dulwich in the summer of 1912 he went on to take up a place at Sandhurst, passing out in August 1914 after being a cadet for two years.
Upon leaving Sandhurst Edward took up a commission in the Middlesex Regiment and went across to France with his new unit the next month. On 30th October that year he was leading an attempt to recover a German-held trench when he was badly wounded; he fell back, but after rejoining another attacking party he was able successfully to lead the recovery of the trench; he was later awarded the D.S.O. as a result of his actions that day. In February 1915 he was promoted to Lieutenant and was mentioned in dispatches that June before being promoted to Captain in March 1916. On October 28th 1916 he was seriously wounded at Les Boeufs, on the Somme, as a result of which he had his leg amputated; this was not enough to save him and he died whilst still in hospital at Rouen on December 7th.