1885-1916
Thomas Gascoigne SHEPHERD
Eyes hair dark brown, Hair eyes brown, Complexion fresh
Finding Thomas Gascoigne Shepherd? – A man with few records and no known relatives
Can you help find Thomas?
Thomas was declared Killed in Action at the Battle of Fromelles, and there are no records of his burial.
A mass grave was found in 2008 at Fromelles, a grave the Germans dug for 250 Australian soldiers they recovered after the battle. As of 2024, 180 of these soldiers have been able to be identified via DNA testing.
Thomas may be among these remaining unidentified men. There is still a chance to identify him — but we need help. If you know anything of contacts for Thomas, please contact the Fromelles Association.
Please contact the Fromelles Association of Australia to find out more.
Thomas Gascoigne Shepherd was born circa 1887 in Newcastle upon Tyne in England. He enlisted in Australia in August 1915.
Our comprehensive team of genealogists and researchers are stumped in trying to uncover links from his past:
- No Births/Deaths/Marriages or Census records for Thomas in Northumberland, UK or Australia under the Shepherd and Gascoigne family names (all spellings)
- He stated he had no living relatives in his enlistment papers
- Listed his occupation as a ship’s steward, but there is nothing of him in shipping records
- No military records for him in the UK
- Had he changed his name?
- No records of what happened him during the Battle of Fromelles
- With no next of kin ties, attempts to distribute his medals were “untraceable”
- No records of him living in Katoomba (mentioned in his family notice)
Contacts via the Belshaw Family?
He left all he had to a friend William Belshaw, 3 Pyrmont Street, Ashfield. William and his wife Bertha (nee Badman) had a son William (1901-1970) who served in the AIF in WW2 and a daughter who later became Mrs Dororthy Gertude Beardsmore. Would today’s Belshaw family know anything of his background?
In 1917, his friends posted a memorial notice in the Sydney Morning Herald to remember him.
Thomas is remembered on the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour and at VC Corner, Fromelles, France.
If you know anything of Thomas’s contacts here in Australia or his relatives from England, please contact the Fromelles Association.
Seeking DNA Donors
Contacts
(Contact: royce@fromelles.info or geoffrey@fromelles.info).
(Contact: army.uwc@defence.gov.au or phone 1800 019 090).
Donations
If you are able, please contribute to the upkeep of this resource.
(Contact: bill@fromelles.info ).