Ronald Shaw

Bank: Coutts & Co

Place of work: London Strand office

Died: 19 December 1942

Ronald Trevor Shaw was born in about 1918, the son of Dora and Norman Shaw. He worked for Coutts & Co, London.

Shaw had enlisted as a Territorial Soldier in the Honourable Artillery Company in 1937 and at the outbreak of war was transferred to the 1st/7th Queen's Royal Regiment. In May 1940 he was stationed in France and Belgium where he was involved in some active combat before being evacuated from Dunkirk. In October 1940 he was sent to an Officer Cadet Training Unit at Bulford and returned to the Regiment as a 2nd Lieutenant in December, this time in the 1st/6th Battalion. Over the next two years he was stationed in various places in England and for a short period was an Instructor to the 44th Division Battle School where he was granted the acting rank of Captain.

On their way to India in May 1942, the Division was diverted to Egypt to stem Rommel's advance on Cairo. During a subsequent engagement, Shaw received bullet wounds in the right leg and was evacuated to hospital. After a period of convalescence in Palestine he rejoined his Battalion in the Western Desert just 10 days before the beginning of the Battle of Alamein. 

On the night of 26 October 1942 Lieutenant Shaw was blown up by a mine, receiving extensive shrapnel wounds and a fracture to the right leg. His leg was subsequently amputated but he died in hospital on 19 December 1942. He was 24 years old.

Ronald Shaw is commemorated on a bank memorial at Coutts & Co, London 440 Strand.