Shapcott, Francis Sydney

BORN BRADFORD, 1891. SON OF ANNE JANE & LATE FRANCIS SHAPCOTT. WATER PROOFERS APPRENTICE. ENLISTED IN THE HULL PALS. KILLED IN ACTION, ON 12/04/1918, AGED 26. BURIED AT OUTTERSTEENE COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION, BAILLEUL, FRANCE. HIS GRAVE INSCRIPTION, READS, “BELOVED, NOT FORGOTTEN”.
Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE FRANCIS SIDNEY SHAPCOTT 23683. Born in Bradford in October 1891, Francis was the eldest of two children and only son of Francis and Anne Jane Shapcott. His father died in 1904 and the family moved to 42 Endymion Street, Hull where Francis earned a living first as a Waterproofer’s Apprentice and then as a Leather worker. He enlisted at Hull City Hall on 16th February 1916 suggesting he may have waited until his call-up papers landed before leaving his mother and sister without a principle breadwinner. Joining the 11th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment he was twice injured and hospitalised during the Summer of 1917 but made it through to the end of a year many thought would be the Pal’s worst. It was just the start. Facing the full force of the German Spring Offensive in March 1918, the battalion was pulled out of the front line for a hard-earned rest, only to be pushed back in when a hole was punched in the Allied lines. Francis was killed in action on 12th April 1918 though he was originally listed as missing and it was only when the Germans discovered his body on 14th June and identified him by his disc that he was declared officially dead. His ID disc was sent to Central Office on 13th September 1918 with word that its bearer had been buried 600m north east of Le Verrier in what eventually became Outtersteene Communal Cemetery Extension; he was 26 years old.