Errol Devereux Lancelot Shaw (1917-1945)

Second World War Roll of Honour

Errol Devereux Lancelot Shaw was born at Durban in 1917, the younger son of Edgar Watson Shaw, an engineer, and Ruby Allena Kate (née Chapman) Shaw of Mount Amity, Chepstowe Road, Green Point, Cape Town in South Africa. He was educated in South Africa before his parents brought him and his elder brother to England to further their education. He matriculated at Downing College, Cambridge, in October 1933, studying English and History. After graduating in 1936, he returned with his family to South Africa where he qualified as a school master at Capetown University. He then taught at Prince Edward Senior School, Salisbury in Southern Rhodesia. In 1939 he published a collection of verse entitled "Chaos and Sacrifice".

Devereux (as he was known in College) joined the Rhodesian Artillery on the outbreak of war and was later transferred to 11 (Honourable Artillery Company) Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery. He was captured at Benghazi in 1942 and was interned as a prisoner of war in Italy. He was later moved to Germany and then to Stalag 344 at Lamsdorf in Poland. While he was a prisoner, he passed the time writing prose and verse for the camp magazine as well as lecturing on history. In January 1945, with the Russians advancing rapidly, the prisoners were sent on a series of forced marches towards the west in groups of 200 to 300 men. Gunner Shaw died from dysentery during the journey on 3 March 1945, aged 28. He is buried at the Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery.