Like William Knox Cooper (see post 28 December 2019), 3939 Private John Sheppard MM was a member of the Coburg Cycling Club.
The son of John Thomas Sheppard and Agnes Amos Eddington, Jack Sheppard lived in aBeckett Street, Coburg before the war and worked as a box maker. He enlisted on 10 July 1915 aged 19 and served with the 6th Infantry Battalion, 12th Reinforcements. He sailed on the same ship as William Cooper - HMAT A40 Ceramic - on 23 November 1915. He served in France where he was awarded the Military Medal on 14 October 1917.
The entrance to the 6th Battalion Headquarters (HQ), 2nd Brigade, 15 May 1918. For a period of over four months, though hundreds of shells fell in the yard and surrounding gardens and fields, the house itself escaped a direct hit. Identified, left to right: 5091 Private (Pte) W. A. Foord MM, HQ runner; 3770 Pte John George Grierson [later awarded Croix de Guerre, wounded 10 August 1918], HQ runner; Lieutenant Neil McLachlan MC (Killed in action 10 August 1918 at Lihons), Battalion Intelligence Officer; 3939 Pte J. Sheppard MM, HQ runner. Image courtesy AWM. Image E02181.
Detail from the photograph of the 6th Battalion headquarters At first it appears there are only three men in the photo, but Sheppard has been identified as the man on the far right, so my guess is that he's the one leaning over in the background.
After Sheppard's return from the war in March 1919, the references to him as a cyclist disappear from the newspapers. In the 1920s he moved to Brunswick, and he remained in the local area until his death. Electoral rolls describe him variously as a 'motor proprietor' or a 'garageur'.
John Sheppard died at his home, 300 Sydney Road, Brunswick, in September 1961 aged 55. He was married and the father of two daughters. (Herald, 1 October 1951) He had lived in Coburg and Brunswick all his life, apart from his war service during World War One.
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