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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Who was Lieutenant Dennis Shoppee (Royal Navy)?


Aurel Sercu

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I am starting this Topic not for myself, but on behalf of an acquaintance of mine, Luc, who is interested in the Belgian coastal area of Veurne (Furnes), Koksijde (Coxyde), Oostduinkerke, Nieuwpoort (Nieuport), ...

 

Luc's question:

 

According to Ian Beckett in The Making of the First World War the flooding of the river Yser valley was one of the major turning points of the war. 
If that had not succeeded 'it would have had the same result as in 1940'. 
Important to that success was the presence of the Dover Patrol and a few French cruisers near the coast, which prevented the German infantry from conquering Nieuport and the vital sluices complex. But as the dunes didn't permit direct fire, observation  from a tower in Nieuport was essential. The observer  of the Dover Patrol who phoned his observations to the Belgian Headquarters at Furnes, where they were sent further on by wireless to the fleet in front of Nieuport, was Dennis Shoppee.
Does anyone know something more about this lieutenant Dennis Shoppee of the Royal Navy? 
 
Edited by Aurel Sercu
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Thans, Alf ! And that was a prompt posting !

I'll inform Luc. And ask him if the first name is Dennis or Denys.

 

Aurel

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This may be of interest:

 

707944908_LieutenantShoppee.jpg.3ce2593272636b3a256b801071e09bba.jpg

 

120437463_ShoppeesTower.jpg.b42ee36434902e6a108d05d493b2e4a6.jpg

 

From: The Dover Patrol 1915-1917 Volume II (page 458)

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89100004258&view=1up&seq=164

 

According to his family tree on ancestry, Denys Charles Gerald Shoppee was awarded the following:

Distinguished Service Cross (1915) - distinguished and gallant service in the field

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29106/page/2737

Croix de Guerre (1916) - naval guns in France

Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur (1917) - naval guns on shore in Belgium

Order of Leopold II (1917)

Military Cross (1921)

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/person/tree/65563149/person/48140999563/facts

 

JP

 

 

Edited by helpjpl
punctuation
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Thank you so much, gentlemen. I'm sure Luc will be very pleased with your most helpful postings.

 

(And ... should someone have a photo of Lieutenant Denys C. G. Shoppee ...)

 

Aurel

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Thanks, JP and Mike. And I am sure Luc may want to contact the poster.

 

Aurel

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  • 2 weeks later...

One more question on behalf of Luc.

 

In the town hall of Nieuport (Nieuwpoort) is kept a stone which was found in the debris of Shoppee's Tower, and old fortified chuch tower , which served as an observation post for the major part of the First World War. The archivist thinks it served as an orientation table and the hole in it could have been for a compass. Has anyone any idea what the patterns could refer to? The measurements are approx 3 ft x 1 1/2 ft.
 
Thanks for every possible bit of information.
 
 ***
It does look indeed like a strange object. And not 100% symmetrical. I myself have absolutely no idea. Maybe I will later post it elsewhere on the GWF too.
Aurel

Signaller's Stone Nieuwpoort Luc Vanacker DSC_0032.JPG

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  • 1 year later...

Dear Aurel,

 

Denys Shoppee was married to my great aunt. I don't know a great deal about him, as I was very young when he died and my parents were living abroad (i.e outside the UK). I do, however, have a small photograph of him, standing between Lord Claud Hamilton and Prince Alexander of Teck. According to the inscription in pencil on the reverse, the photograph was taken by the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VIII), and the photo is in an envelope labelled "For Shoppee from Edward" and also labelled "La Panne, March 1915".

 

I recently discovered that he had been awarded the DSC in 1915, but I didn't know what he had done to achieve that until I came across this thread; I was very interested to read the information above, and I am grateful to you and others for posting it.

 

I will try to attach a scanned copy of the photo I have.

 

With best wishes,

Chris

 

La Panne 1915.pdf

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Following on from helppipl above, there is a further reference to Shoppee  in Bacon's "Dover Patrol 1915-1917"  which explains why he was in the tower:

 

image.png.745d9910fd7b92521dd73081e54af036.png  

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Hello Chris (and also Guest and Barry),

 

Thank you so much for your posting. I immediately contacted Luc (the persoon that I mentioned in my opening post, who has a specific interest in Lt. Shoppee) and he replied : "Schitterend nieuws" ! (Wonderful news)

 

The PDF however was some problem. It could not be opened the normal way, and not after downloading either. However I managed to see the second page, with the photo after a while. Was there anything interesting or relevant on the (invisible) page 1 ?

 

Thanks again.

 

Aurel

 

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Chris,

 

Also this... Luc informed me that he wrote an article on Shoppee, for a Flemish WW1 magazine, but it was also translated into English, and reportedly published in Stand To!, February 2020 (117). However he himself does not havethis article right now. It appears to be in the In Flanders Fields Museum Research Centre, but this is not open until then end of the month. Of course that would not help you either.

 

But there is another way : Luc sent me the text Stand To! was provided with by him. So I can send that to you. I could ask you : let me know what your e-mail address is in a PM (Personal Message), but since you are new on the Forum I am not sure you can do that (yet).

Anyway I'll try to send you my e-mail address in a PM to you right after this. And if that appears not to be possible, I'll post it in a separate posting here below. I'll see ...

 

Aurel

 

P.S. Added two minutes later ... I sent you my e-mail address in a PM and hope it will reach you.

Edited by Aurel Sercu
added P.S.
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  • 2 months later...

Chris,

Probably my (two) PMs did not reach you. But should it be possible for you to contact me ... (PM or e-mail) ...

Aurel

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