Peter Shepherd (25 August 1841 – 22 January 1879) was a British Army doctor. He was born at

Leochel-Cushnie Leochel-Cushnie is a parish in Aberdeenshire, about 40 km west of Aberdeen (West Aberdeenshire (UK Parliament constituency)). The old parishes of Leochel and Cushnie were united in 1795, on the death of Mr. Francis Adam, minister of 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 of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

. He joined the medical service of the Army on 30 September 1864 and was sent to the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

. He was quartered near

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London, Eastern Cape, East London. Makhanda is the lar ...

, where he treated " Caffres as well as Europeans". His first salaries were used to pay back the friends who had supported his studies. From there, he was posted to Ireland, then India, before being forced to return home in 1872 in poor health and assigned a post at the recently opened

Royal Herbert Hospital Initially the Herbert Hospital, renamed in 1900, the Royal Herbert Hospital was built as a restorative facility for British veterans of the Crimean War, and remained a military hospital until 1977. It was situated in southeast London, on the sout ...

, Woolwich, London. He was promoted to Surgeon Major on 30 September 1876 whilst still at Woolwich. In 1878, Surgeon-Major Shepherd, together with Colonel Francis Duncan established the concept of teaching first aid skills to civilians. Duncan was a fellow graduate of Aberdeen University, a career artillery officer and a deeply religious man with high humanitarian values who strongly supported the principle of battlefield ambulance transport He later wrote a history of the Royal Artillery and was elected to Parliament as a Conservative. Both Shepherd and Duncan were active members of the Presbyterian Church at Woolwich. Shepherd, together with a Dr Coleman, 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". Shepherd's last service was to prepare a manual at the request of the Central Ambulance Committee of the "Order of St John of Jerusalem in England, Ambulance Department" for use by Metropolitan Police and other ambulance classes. He did not have time to revise this work when he received orders to leave for South Africa again. Dr (later Lieutenant General Sir)

James Cantlie Sir James Cantlie (17 January 1851 – 28 May 1926) was a British physician. He was a pioneer of first aid, which in 1875 was unknown: even the police had no knowledge of basic techniques such as how to stop serious bleeding and applying splin ...

, another graduate of Aberdeen University, later published Shepherd's lesson notes from that course as "First Aid to the Injured". It was not long before the newly formed St. John Ambulance was using this manual in other public courses in cities throughout Britain. In 1879, he was with the troops that crossed

Tugela River The Tugela River ( zu, Thukela; af, Tugelarivier) is the largest river in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. With a total length of , it is one of the most important rivers of the country. The river originates in Mont-aux-Sources of the Dra ...

into the Zulu kingdom. Outmanoeuvred by King

Cetshwayo King Cetshwayo kaMpande (; ; 1826 – 8 February 1884) was the king of the Zulu Kingdom from 1873 to 1879 and its Commander in Chief during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. His name has been transliterated as Cetawayo, Cetewayo, Cetywajo and Ketchw ...

, the troops were ambushed and heavily defeated at the

Battle of Isandlwana The Battle of Isandlwana (alternative spelling: Isandhlwana) on 22 January 1879 was the first major encounter in the Anglo-Zulu War between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Eleven days after the British commenced their invasion of Zulul ...

. Surgeon Major Shepherd attempted to move a wagon of wounded 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 wounded soldiers were hauled out and killed. There is no grave marker for Peter Shepherd at Isandlwana. Shepherd was attending to George MacLeroy of the Natal Carbineers; eyewitness Andrew Muirhead stated that Shepherd was killed by a thrown

assegai An assegai or assagai (Arabic ''az-zaġāyah'', Berber languages, Berber ''zaġāya'' "spear", French language, Old French ''azagaie'', Spanish ''azagaya'', Italian ''zagaglia'', Middle English ''lancegay'') is a pole weapon used for throwing, ...

shortly afterwards. 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 with the inscription "In memory of Peter Shepherd, M.B., University of Aberdeen, Surgeon-Major Her Majesty's Army; born at Leochel Cushnie, Aberdeenshire, 25 August 1841; who sacrificed his own life at the battle of Isandhlwane, Zululand, 22 January 1879, in the endeavour to save the life of a wounded comrade. Erected by his brother officers and friends." 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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shepherd, Peter 19th-century Scottish medical doctors 1841 births 1879 deaths Alumni of the University of Aberdeen British Army personnel of the Anglo-Zulu War British military personnel killed in the Anglo-Zulu War People from Marr Royal Army Medical Corps officers

See also

References