James Michael Kershaw
Person details
| Forename(s) | James Michael |
|---|---|
| Surname | Kershaw |
| Rank | 2nd Lieutenant |
| Regiment | Royal Artillery |
| Age | 22 |
| Death | Killed in action |
| Place of Death | North Africa > Libya |
| Date of Death | 21/11/1941 |
| Year of Entry | 1933 |
| House Letter | H |
| School Notes | Junior Scholar; History Essay Prize; English Literature Prize; Birt Speech Prize; History Prize; College History Scholar; Adam Fox Essay; St John Roscoe French Prize; Debating Society; Political Society |
| Comments |
Included in Magdalen College, Oxford memorial book 'The undone years' by R Hutchins & D Sheppard. KERSHAW, James Michael; b 2 August 1919. Son of N. and I. Kershaw of Eversley, Hampshire. Radley. D. 193740; 2nd History 1940 Kershaw entered Radley on a junior scholarship in 1933 and left after winning a History Demyship to Magdalen in 1937. His school obituary recorded that: His intervening years were packed with intellectual and athletic activities, and few boys have achieved such all-round distinction. He won the Birt Speech Prize, the Adam Fox Essay, the Historical Essay, the English Literature and the St John Roscoe French Prizes. He was secretary of the debating and political societies. He was in the first XV in 1936, and was a good oarsman [. . .]. We shall remember him even more for his charm of manner and for his unswerving devotion to what he knew to be right. One of the eight new boys who joined the same house at Radley as Kershaw in September 1933 was Peter Stuart (Christ Church, 193840) who, in the school obituary for Kershaw, described a benevolent regime in which Mike stood out intellectually, in physique, and in integrity but also never lost his sense of fun. He was a keen member of the House OTC Platoon when it won the interhouse competition in 1936. Kershaw was one of three History Demies (scholars) who came up to Magdalen in 1937 from different schools, the others being Fink (above) and Eric Kent (D. 193740), who survived the War. While at Magdalen, Kershaw revisited Radley several times. Kershaw, two years behind but over-lapping with Cadogan (above), also gained a reputation in the Oxford Union though not anything like to the same extent as Cadogan. He delivered his maiden speech from the floor in his second term when, on 4 February 1938, he spoke in favour of a motion deploring modern morality and was described as very superior. On 3 November 1938, in a debate on British policy towards Palestine, Isis described his speech from the floor as outspoken, lucid and relevant and encouraged him to speak more often. On 10 November 1938, speaking on the same side as Cadogan when the latter was the fifth main speaker, Kershaw summed up from the floor for the Ayes in the debate That war between nations can sometimes be justified and on 24 November 1938 he participated from the floor in a debate on the German colonies. But he began to become better known as a spokesman of the Right in 1939. On 18 January he was predicted by Isis to add a fiery touch of eloquence to the terms debates; on 19 January he expressed his confidence in the home policy of the National Government in the face of constant heckling from the Left; and on 2 March 1939 he opposed a motion deploring the recognition of General Franco. He first participated in a debate as a major speaker on 25 May 1939 when he supported the motion That if this house were an American it would be isolationist but Isis missed the power that his speeches had had when he delivered them from the floor. Unlike Cadogan, his political stature never grew as the political situation visibly worsened and after a light-hearted debate on the BBC on 2 November 1939, The Oxford Magazine noted that Mr Kershaw is at his best in a debate of this kind he was very funny. A similar thing happened after a debate on art, artists and government control on 8 February 1940: The Oxford Magazine noted that Kershaw treated the subject lightly, but exquisitely. His remarks wafted in the refreshing air of the intellectual Oxford sherry party. This was the last time that Kershaw spoke in a Union debate and the evidence suggests that unlike Cadogan, no bright political future lay ahead of him. Perhaps, as things became more critical, Kershaws archaic political stance as described in the following paragraph became increasingly incapable of dealing with them. Kershaws close friend John Russell (D. 193740) recalls that Kershaw was from the outset an original and forthright character who went his own way and thought his own thoughts. He was certainly the only man in Magdalen to belong to the British Empire Society. God, King and Empire were what he stood for, and he did not mind being teased about it. In our third year, 193940, when so many others had already gone, he and I lived in the Grammar Hall and as the news in 1940 got worse and worse we often visited each other after dinner. He was funny, gallant, and only depressed by our civilian status. Once we were visited by Eric Marland [below], the former President of the JCR who was then in the Navy and proud and delighted to be serving. We felt small when Marland left, but Michael Kershaws life in the army was imminent and he, too, was proud to be in uniform. I missed his company very much, and I still do (letter, Russell to RH, 20 December 2002). In February 1940, the month of his last speech in the Union, Kershaws doubts about whether he would be called up before Finals were resolved and he wrote to the Revd D. Hope at Radley: The War Office, after haggling with numerous delegations, has at length been convinced that the pen is at least as mighty as the sword, so that the third-year people are staying to take a degree in the summer. I am due ultimately for a commission in the Signals why the Signals I have not the vaguest idea, except that they discovered I was once a Boy Scout! So I shall go into an OCTU in July. But on 12 April 1941 Kershaw was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the 4th Royal Horse Artillery, a regiment which was then organized as two batteries, each of three troops equipped with four 25-pounder guns. In August 1939 the regiment had been stationed in Egypt, had stayed there until 14 May 1940, and had seen much action before Kershaw joined F Battery on 12 August 1941 in the aftermath of Operation Battleaxe when the regiment was training at Rakham Bay near Mersa Matrûh in support of 7th Armoured Brigade. On 16 October the regiment was reorganized as three batteries, C, F and DD, each with two troops of four guns, and Kershaw became a member of C troop in DD Battery. After absorbing seven new officers and 120 other ranks, the regiment spent the rest of October practising live firing and on manoeuvres. But even by mid-November the regiment did not have all the vehicles it needed, so C and F Batteries were attached to 22nd Armoured Brigade while Kershaws DD Battery and the remainder of the regiment were attached to 7th Armoured Brigade. By November, the mainly Australian garrison of Tobruk had been replaced, and on 18 November General Sir Claude Auchinleck launched Operation Crusader which sought to raise the siege of Tobruk by combining a breakout from the garrison eastwards to link up with a thrust westwards by the 8th Army (see Appendix 2). On 18 November the advance was slow and uneventful; on 19 November the 7th Hussars reported a large enemy camp to the north, and the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment (2RTR), which was leading its brigades advance, encountered an impassable bog. F Battery then engaged enemy tanks, and 22nd Armoured Brigade moved west and north, while Kershaws DD Battery supported the 6th Royal Tank Regiment (6RTR) when it moved onto the airfield of Sidi Rezegh at last light, capturing 22 enemy aircraft and 80 ground staff. The brigade leaguered there for the night: 6RTR and Kershaws DD Battery were to the north of the airfield; 7th Hussars and 2RTR were to the west of the airfield; and F Battery and Brigade HQ were positioned in a valley below the escarpment running parallel to the coast on which the airfield was located. At first light on 20 November 6RTR and 2RTR were heavily attacked since they had unwittingly leaguered very close to German defensive positions and been located by patrols during the night. Several tanks were destroyed, but F Battery withdrew to the south of the escarpment and DD Battery to the north, both without loss, and came into action. 7th Armoured Divisions Support Group comprising the 1st Battalion, the Kings Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC) and the 60th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, arrived shortly afterwards. During a day of heavy fighting, Kershaws battery completely broke up an attack on the airfield from the west by German infantry. At first light on 21 November the KRRC and 6RTR with F and DD Batteries in support attempted to capture the escarpment north of the airfield. Their flanks were guarded by 2RTR on the left and the 7th Hussars on the right. The 7th Hussars were heavily attacked by German armour almost immediately, but F Battery turned and engaged them. Meanwhile, the attack on the escarpment had succeeded but 6RTR were heavily counter-attacked. When Captain E. Dudley-Smith of Kershaws regiment (who was acting as forward observation officer for the tanks) was wounded, Kershaw went forward in an armoured car to replace him: neither he nor any of his party was ever seen again. The War Diary of Kershaws battery records that the armoured car was found several months later, with the unmarked graves of Kershaw and his men beside it. He had been killed in action, aged 22, on 21 November 1941. Buried: Knightsbridge War Cemetery, Acroma, Libya. Operation Crusader pivoted on what became known as the Sidi Rezegh Battles, and after two days of intense fighting for the airfield the KRRC was over-run, the 7th Armoured Brigade was reduced to seven tanks, and the escarpment was recaptured by massed enemy tanks. But the fighting continued, Tobruk was temporarily relieved in the first week of December; and Rommel fell back to be resupplied from Benghazi. A letter from Kershaws mother to Radley School of 28 January 1942 reveals her distress as she sought the address of a friend who might know her sons whereabouts: I had a cable from the War Office on 13 December to say Michael had been wounded in the Middle East on 24 November, and since then I have heard no more and am very anxious. I thought that perhaps George might be able to find out which hospital he was in, and news of his progress. In November 1943 she wrote to Mr Hope, enclosed the photograph reproduced above, and added: It is just two years since he was killed in action at Sidi Rezegh at an O.P. with our forward tanks. Three others fell with him, only one taken prisoner to an Italian P.O.W. camp. It is terrible to think of all these fine young men being taken, and no end in sight yet. I shall always remember the happy days he spent at Radley. Kershaws friend Peter Stuart added: It was so sad to hear of his death. And sad that he could not return to Magdalen and turn his War Degree into Honours; given his abilities and big personality, I am sure that he was destined for great things. Kershaw is commemorated on the Memorial Arch at Radley College and in the Memorial Room above the arch, where albums and photographs record all the schools old boys who were lost in war, of whom 220 were killed in World War II. The account of the fighting at Sidi Rezegh has drawn on Captain W. G. Clarke, A History of 4th Regiment Royal Horse Artillery (1949). |
| Commonwealth War Graves Commission Link | https://www.cwgc.org/find-record... |
| Unit | 4th Regiment RHA |
| Prefect | - |
| Military Decorations | |
| Album Number | 22 |
| Battle | |
| Previous Regiment | |
| Burial or Cemetery | North Africa > Acroma |
| Citations | |
| Archives | Correspondence file in OR files in Radley Archives |
| Post School | Magdalen College, Oxford - History Demy |
| Prep School | St Christopher's, Bath |
| Prisoner of War | |
| Radlein Obituary | October 18 1942. In November, 1941, killed on active service in Libya, James Michael Kershaw (Smale's, H, 1933-37). Sec. Lieut. RA. The news of Mike Kershaw's death, which we only received on Gaudy Day, was a great shock to those who knew him well. He was such an outstanding figure at School and such a frequent visitor during his year at Oxford that his death is very difficult to realise. He came here as a Scholar in 1933 and went up to Magdalen as a History Demy in 1937. His intervening years were packed with intellectual and athletic activities, and few boys have managed to achieve such all-round distinction. He won the Birt Speech Prize, the Adam Fox Essay, the Historical Essay, the English Literature, and the St. John Roscoe French Prize. He was Secretary of the Debating and Political Societies. He was in the 1st XV and was also a good oar. All this in itself, would perpetuate his name in our memories. But perhaps we shall remember him even more for his unassuming charm of manner and for his unswerving devotion to what he knew to be right. His record at Oxford where he distinguished himself as a speaker at the Union gave promise of a brilliant future. We shall miss him sadly. |
| Service Number | 182086 |
| Place of Birth |
