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Auction: 19001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 969

(x) Coronation 1911 (Major T. O'Shea.), good very fine

[D.S.O.] London Gazette 3 June 1916.

M.I.D. London Gazettes 22 June 1915 and 15 June 1916.

Timothy O'Shea was born in Ireland in 1856. He joined the army aged 18, serving overseas in Burma and South Africa. He particularly distinguished himself during the Great War, serving as Major and Quartermaster of the 1/9th (County of London) Battalion (Queen Victoria's Rifles), the London Regiment. He was awarded the D.S.O. and received a brace of 'mentions' (London Gazettes 22 June 1915 and 15 June 1916).

Sadly however, the Great War had devastating consequences for the O'Shea family. Two of Timothy's three sons would lose their lives; Dermot, the eldest, was killed in August 1918 while serving as a Lieutenant in the Tank Corps, while Alec, the youngest, died of wounds received in the same campaign in March 1921. It was said that his was a 'long, lingering death'. The surviving son, Maurice, devoted his life to the priesthood and brought life-saving supplies to the Tuscan hilltop village of Civitella following the massacre and destruction of 29 June 1944 by the 1st Fallschirm 'Herman Goering' Panzer Division. Timothy O'Shea died in 1922, 'war weary and full of grief'.

Reference source:

The Road to Civitella 1944: The Captain, the Chaplain and the Massacre, Dee La Vardera.


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