Pte 7/64067 Stanley Shakespear

• Age: 25
• From: Everton, Liverpool
• Regiment: 7 S WALES BORDER
• Died on Wednesday 18th September 1918
• Commemorated at: Karasouli M C
  Panel Ref: B.400

Stanley was born in Everton, Liverpool, on 21st June 1892, the youngest son of of Samuel William Shakespear and his wife Harriet (née Whaites). His father, born in Leamington, Warwickshire, and his mother in Whitehaven, Cumberland, married in Liverpool in 1873 and had six children.  Stanley had older brothers William and Arthur, and older sisters Carrie, Beatrice, and Nellie. Stanley was baptised in St. Peter’s, Liverpool, on 13th July 1892, his parents’ residence given as St. Domingo Vale, and his father’s occupation as traffic manager.   

His father had worked for the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board since 1861, rose to be the chief warehouse keeper of the Stanley Dock warehouses, was transferred to the traffic department in 1892 and was promoted to Chief Traffic Manager in 1905. 

The 1901 census finds the family living at 25 St. Domingo Grove, Everton, with five children and a general servant.  His father is a dock traffic manager, Stanley is 8.  Also in the household are his aunt Kate Whaites, 38, and a visitor from Whitehaven, Esther Stockdale, 20.   

He attended St. Saviour’s Primary School and when he was 12, in September 1904, was enrolled in the Liverpool Collegiate School.  However, his name does not appear on the school memorial;  it is possible the family moved away before he finished school.  

By 1911 they have moved to the Wirral, living at 4 Carson Road, Hoylake, Cheshire, with the same domestic servant.  His father, 62, is now Chief Traffic Manager for the Docks, and his mother is 58.  William is 36, a commercial clerk in a cotton office, Nellie is 21, no occupation listed, and Stanley is 18, an insurance clerk. 

His father died in January 1912 age 63.  His funeral was large, with many worthies from the MDHB and shipping lines in attendance.  

Stanley enlisted in Liverpool as Private 17470, joining the 19th (Pals) Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment.  The amount of the War Gratuity suggests that he served over three and a half years, enlisting in about February 1915.  

He was billeted at the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 19th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. 

He shipped to France with his battalion, disembarking at Boulogne on the 07th November 1915.  

At some point he was transferred to the 14th Bn K.L.R., who fought on the Salonika front, and then transferred to the 7th Bn South Wales Borderers as Private 64067. Whether with the 14th K.L.R. or the S.W.B., Stanley would have seen action at the Battle of Doiran in 1917. He must have been transferred to the S.W.B. before June 1918 when the 14th returned to France.   

Stanley was killed in action on 18th September 1918, just six days before the Bulgarian government requested a ceasefire, and an Armistice was signed by the Allies in Salonika on 29th September 1918.  

Stanley now rests in Karasouli Military Cemetery, Greece, Karasouli, now called Polycastro, is 35 miles northwest of Salonika.  

The cemetery was begun in September 1916 for the use of casualty clearing stations on the Doiran front. At the Armistice, it contained about 500 burials but was greatly increased when graves were brought in from other cemeteries.

Karasouli Military Cemetery now contains 1,421 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, 56 being unidentified.

His name appeared in the list of those killed published in the Weekly List on the 19th November 1918. 

Stanley earned his three medals. 

The CWGC communicated with his mother, Mrs. H. Shakespeare, who was then living with married daughter Nellie Beckett, at 2 Queens Road, Huddersfield. 

The War Gratuity of £18-10s went to his mother Harriet, living at “Rossett” Valentia Road, Hoylake.  She was awarded a pension of 5/- a week from June 1919. 

When his eldest brother William died in 1926 his mother was still living in Hoylake but by 1939 Harriet was living with married daughter Beatrice and family in Fulbrook Edge, Sherbourn Hill, Stratford on Avon.  She later lived in Edgware, Middlesex.  His mother saw the end of the Second World War in Europe, and died in 1945, aged 93.

Stanley is commemorated on the following Memorials:

Hoylake and West Kirby

St. Hildeburgh Church, Hoylake.

We currently have no further information on Stanley Shakespeare, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.