Lieutenant William Shields

Regiment: Manchester Regiment
Attached: R.F.C.
Date published: 05/10/1917
Killed in action: Yes
Date of death: 05/09/1917
Age at death: 28
Cemetery: Voormezeele Enclosures No.1 And No.2, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
Plot: I. H. 41.
Information: Lieutenant Wm. Shields B.A., Manchester Regiment, attached R.F.C., was killed in aerial combat on September 5th, 1917. He was a member of the teaching profession and a graduate of Queen's University, Belfast. On the outbreak of war he joined the O.T.C. attached to that University and obtained a commission in the 15th Bn. Manchester Regiment. He served eighteen months in Egypt, ten with the Manchesters and eight with the R.F.C., to which he transferred. He returned to England in April, 1917, and did duty on the East Coast there before going to France, where he had only been about two weeks when he was killed. Lieut. Shields was the eldest son of Mr. S. Shields, 33 Upper Frank Street, Belfast, formerly of Stranocum, Co. Antrim, and is the second to pay the supreme sacrifice of four brothers who joined the colours on the outbreak of war.