Ampthill, Bedfordshire, Record 4: The Shepperson Household

Record 4: The Shepperson Household 

Record four focuses on the last in the row of houses the previous two were records made in. 8 Dunstable Street provides one of the more interesting stories so far.

Head: Elizabeth Ann Shepperson (nee Featherstone)

Grahamstown, South Africa
Image copyright © Tim Giddings 2007

Elizabeth Ann Featherstone was born on the 18th of October 1832, in Grahamstown, in the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, (now the Eastern Cape). The fourth of eight children to Robert David Featherstone (1790-1842) and Lucy Finaughty (1804-1894). Her siblings were Rosetta (1826-1902), Louisa (1829-1900), John Henry (1830-1891), Zipporah (1835-1912), William George (1836-1915), Robert (1838-1917) and Gertrude (1842-1910). Both her parents were English by birth. Her father was born in South Molton in Devon, and her mother was born in London. By chance, both her parents families moved to South Africa around the 1810's and they were married in Grahamstown in 1822, where they settled and started a family.

In around 1857, Elizabeth met 49 year-old Benjamin Matthew Shepperson. Benjamin was a merchant, born in Eriswell, Suffolk in 1808. His wife of some 20 years, Mary Ann, had died in 1856, leaving him and seven children. The couple returned to England, where they married on the 20th of October 1857, two days after Elizabeth's 25th birthday. They then went back to South Africa and settled there. During this time they had five children, which made eleven in total with the children from Benjamin's first marriage. These children were Elizabeth Jane (1858-1948), Amy (1859-1946), May (1861-), Fanny, and Bertram Egerton, who is talked about in more detail below.

3 Shakespeare Villas, built 1886
Image copyright © Google 2016

Benjamin passed away on the 11th of March 1872 while in the Orange Free State (now Free State), aged 64. After this Elizabeth seemingly remained in South Africa until eventually (possibly due to her age) she left the country around the start of the 20th century, moving to Bedfordshire, where she joined her son Bertram who had retired there. By 1911 she and her son were living in Ampthill, however, after he married in 1912 Elizabeth moved again, this time to Bedford, where she settled at 75 Ashburnham Road in the St. Pauls district of the town. She died here on the 12th of December 1915, aged 83. The death certificate listed the cause of death as angina.

Son: Bertram Egerton Shepperson

Bertram Egerton Shepperson was born on the 29th of May 1869 in Grahamstown, South Africa, the last of Elizabeth and Benjamin's children. Bertram seemingly recieved a full education and as an adult he joined the Cape of Good Hope's branch of the Colonial Civil Service. Bertram served for approximately 20 years with the Service and upon retiring in his 40's he moved to Britain, settling on Dunstable Street, Ampthill around 1905.

During this time his mother joined him briefly from South Africa, however in 1912, Bertram, now 43, met and married 30 year-old Florence Amy Rumsey on the 30th of March. They settled in Crickhowell in what is now south Powys in Wales. By the time WW1 started in 1914, the couple had three children, Bertram David (1912-1940), Elizabeth Mary (1914-2001), and one child born before their marriage, Llewellyn (1910-1983).

First inspection of the 23rd Battalion, October 1914

When World War One began in 1914, Bertram joined the Royal Fusiliers, serving in the 23rd Battalion (1st Sportsmans). This battalion was notable for being made up of men up to the age of 45 who were over the formal enlistment age. Bertram, being 45 himself would have just made the age limit. During the war Bertram saw action in France before the 23rd Battalion was broken up, after which he joined the 30th Battalion before being injured in 1916, ending his war time service.

Following this Bertram returned to Wales although his injuries in France may have contributed to his death just six years later on the 18th of September 1922, aged 53. Interestingly at the time of his death Bertram was in Richmond, Surrey, although probate records list his address as that of his home in Wales, indicating he died while visiting friends or family.

Bertram David Shepperson
Served in RAF 1927-1940

On a side note, Bertram's son Bertram David fought in WW2 some 15 years after his father's death. He was part of the 51st Squadron of the RAF and was shot down over Germany on the 19th of March 1940, aged 28.