Reginald Vernon Shepherd
Reginald Vernon Shepherd (1892-1950)
1951 Obituary [1]
"Colonel REGINALD VERNON SHEPHERD, O.B.E., was associated with the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, and later with the Ministry of Supply as an expert on the design and development of small arms and ammunition.
He was born in 1892, and educated at Archbishop Holgate's Grammar School, York, and at Leeds University, where he graduated B.Sc. in 1914. Subsequently he took a course at the Military College of Science. In 1921 he was appointed assistant superintendent of design at the Royal Arsenal, and six years later was made assistant inspector of small arms. He was promoted to inspector in 1933, a post he held until 1936 when he joined the board of directors of the B.S.A. Guns, Ltd., London.
In 1943 he became attached to the Ministry of Supply as assistant chief engineer and superintendent of design, with responsibility to the chief engineer for the design and development of small arms, machine guns, mountings, etc., for all three Services. He was also in charge of the drawing office, the experimental machine shop, and the testing staff. Colonel Shepherd had been a Companion of the Institution since 1945. His death occurred on 11th April 1950."