[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Source: RSA

Great post. I never knew that. The good thing is, with forums like this he will never be forgot.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Source: Roll of commissioned officers in the Medical service of the British army.

Hi all.
The following is from ' Zulu Rising ' by Ian Knight ...........
Surgeon Shepherd must at last have recognized that tending to the wounded in the camp was hopeless , for Trooper Muirhead
saw him just beyond the big gully . Muirhead had set off with a friend , Trooper George Macleroy , known to his fellow Carbineers
as ' Kelly ' when ; " Kelly staggered in the saddle , evidently hit with an assagai . I stopped my horse to see what was the matter ,
and tried to support him , but could not , and had to lift him onto the ground . At that moment Dr. Shepherd came galloping past.
I called out to him , and he dismounted to examine poor Kelly . After carefully examining him he said, Ah , the poor fellow !. Too late,
too late ! , I had just mounted my horse and Dr. Shepherd was in the act of putting his foot into the stirrup , when he was struck
fatally with an assagai .
This is also quoted in Shepherds Biography in Mackinnon and Shadbolt , The South African Campaign of 1879.
cheers 90th.

Hi All

A good article about Surgeon Major Peter Shepherd

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2542683/pdf/bmj00471-0052.pdf

"Surgeon Major Shepherd never returned from South Africa. As principal medical officer withChelmsford’s Third Column, he was caught up in the massacre at Isandhlwana on 22 January 1879, when a huge Zulu impi of some 20,000 routed and massacred the 1700 members of the British force. Shepherd, as the surgeon based at his regimental outpost, had remained in his camp; but as the survivors attempted to flee the massacre he went to the aid of a stricken soldier and was himself cut to pieces.

It transpired that as Shepherd had voyaged with his unit to South Africa in 1878, on board the Conway Castle , he had written a pocket- sized aide memoire to be used as a first aid text for the troops. This small work contained instructions for the stopping of haemorrhaging, how to splint broken bones and notes on stretcher drill. It also instructed soldiers how to cope with such conditions as: ‘Ague, Apoplexy, Bites by snakes and mad dogs, Burns, Colic and diarrhoea, Dysentery, Drunkenness, Delirium Tremens, Drownings, Emetics and Fainting’. Shepherd never lived to see the outreach of his work. Within a year of his death, 100,000 Certificates for First Aid had been awarded by the St John Ambulance Association. Within a decade, a million St Johncertificates had been issued in centres as far afield as Barbados in the
Caribbean, Dunedin in New Zealand and Brisbane, Australia. Today, in developed nations such as the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the European Union one in every thirty civilians possesses a current first aid certificate. Logical and self-evident as the tenets of first aid are, audits of its success rates indicate that progress has been modest at best. Following coronary occlusion, even with best-practice first aid delivered in the context of witnessed cardiac arrests, the survival rate does not exceed 10 per cent. When such first aid skills are supplemented by on-site defibrillation, there is evidence to indicate that salvage ratesæmeasured in the terms of discharge from hospital with an intact brainæmay rise to 40 per cent. The big challenge for both civilian and military authorities is to promote the concept that first aid is a necessary skill for all, irrespective of rank or position; and that with the provision of simple and reliable equipment many lives can be saved. Research indicates that when first aid is required, in more than 60 per cent of cases the person administering it is a partner, parent, child, workmate or fellow team member of the sick or injured victim. In the military world, when first aid is required, if possible, it should be given by a ‘buddy’. Such was von Esmarch’s original concept when he developed the simple uni-
versal calico bandage to be carried by all soldiers. If needed, it was to be applied by anyone on site, irrespective of occupation or rank."

Wasn't aware that a medal had been produced in Peter Shepherd's memory.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Peter Shepherd was born in 1841 in Leochel Cushnie, Aberdeenshire. In 1851 he was living at his father’s 50 acre farm Craigmill, with his parents, Peter (aged 50), Mary (aged 38), younger brother James, sister Mary Ann, his 19 year old cousin Peter, as well as 16 year old farm labourer John Edwards. He is listed in the census as a “scholar”. At 19 he was lodging in 37 Bonaccord Street, Old Machar, Aberdeen and studying medicine at the University.

He joined the medical service of the Army on 30 September 1864 and was promoted to Surgeon Major on 30th September 1876. In 1878 Surgeon-Major Shepherd of the Royal Herbert Military Hospital, Woolwich, London, together with Colonel Francis Duncan established the concept of teaching first aid skills to civilians. Shepherd conducted the first class in the hall of the Presbyterian school in Woolwich using a comprehensive first aid curriculum that he had developed. It was Shepherd who first used the English term "first aid for the injured" Dr James Cantile later published Shepherd’s lesson notes from that course as “First Aid To The Injured”. It wasn’t long before the newly-formed St. John Ambulance was running other public courses in cities throughout Britain.

In 1879 he was with the troops that crossed Tugela River into the Zulu kingdom. Outmanoeuvred by King Cetshwayo the troops were ambushed and heavily defeated at Isandlwana. Surgeon Major Peter Shepherd attempted to move a wagon of injured troops back to Rorke’s Drift. The ambulance never made it out of this area and was overrun. The wagon could be seen for months. The injured soldiers were hauled out and killed.

There is no grave marker for Peter Shepherd at Isandlwana. But if he was buried where he fell it would be feasible to narrow the area down to a twenty yard radius of where George MacLeroy of the Natal Carbineers died, as his death site is marked. It was George that Shepherd was attending to shortly before his own death, an eyewitness Andrew Muirhead stated that Shepherd was killed by a thrown assegai soon after. Surgeon Major Shepherd's pony was recognised later by Surgeon Major Reynolds VC as it was ridden back to the camp at Rorke's Drift by a native soldier

A memorial brass was placed on the wall of the Royal Victoria Hospital Chapel at Netley, "In memory of Peter Shepherd, M.B., University of Aberdeen, Surgeon-Major Her Majesty's Army; born at Leochel Cushnie, Aberdeenshire, 25th August I841; who sacrificed his own life at the battle of Isandhlwane, Zululand, 22nd January I879, in the endeavour to save the life of a wounded comrade. Erected by his brother officers and friends[8]" The committee that arranged the Shepherd Memorial for the Netley Chapel also placed a marble tablet to his memory in the graveyard of Leochel Cushnie Church and founded a "Shepherd Gold Medal" to be competed for annually as a surgical prize in the University of Aberdeen.

Original News cutting.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Does anyone have any information on the early life & career of Peter Shepherd, not just the records that are available everywhere ?
I am trying to find out because he is my 4x Great Uncle

Hi Bob. Welcome to the forum. Good to see a member who's related to a well respected man who took part and lost his life in one of the most talked about battles of the Zulu War of 1879.

What information do you have on him yourself or are you in the same boat as us when it comes to information on Major Peter Shepherd.

So far I just know same as is already on this site, but am trying to find out info through a friend at Aberdeen Uni.
Most of the older members of the family are gone now, so there is not a lot to go on,
but still trying.