Riddle of fallen soldier lost to history
Among the long list of names recording Wellington's fallen heroes of the Great War is a mystery soldier who, 100 years on, is causing plenty of headscratching among researchers.
They have searched in every archive and database that they can think of and have been unable to find any trace of "Private D.E. Shuker, S.I. Y."
Yet his name is recorded on the town's war memorial panels at the lych gate to All Saints Parish Church as one of 184 from Wellington who made the ultimate sacrifice.
The Wellington Remembers 1914-1918 group is compiling a book containing biographies and photographs of as many of those commemorated as possible, and is appealing for help with information and photographs to fill the gaps.
"Despite a considerable amount of time and effort, D.E. Shuker has not been found and the use of a Phd researcher, a student at Wolverhampton University, to identify the soldier has been equally fruitless. She worked very hard but was unable to find him," said Mary Rogers, one of the Wellington Remembers team.
Local appeals have also drawn a blank so far.
Mary says Shuker is a Shropshire name, with the 1841 census showing that 88 per cent of Shukers recorded in England and Wales lived in Shropshire. The 1911 census showed that there were 949 Shukers living in Shropshire - but crucially, no D.E. Shuker.
The "S.I.Y." part of the inscription is presumed to stand for Shropshire Imperial Yeomanry.
Mary says searches on various permutations of the spelling, such as Schuter and Schuker, have also not identified the soldier.
There are various theories as to why he has proven so elusive.
"They are: that the name is wrong; the initials are wrong; the regiment is wrong; or he didn't die in World War One or the years after.
"We know there were Shukers in Wellington and there must have been somebody related. I know that in the past people have asked various Shukers locally if they are connected with this person, and they don't know of any connection. He is an enigma."
Anyone who can help solve the riddle, or has photos or information about any of Wellington's fallen of the Great War, can contact the project on wellingtonremembers@outlook.com, call 07944 435 978, search for Wellington Remembers 1914-1918 on Facebook or visit wellingtonremembers.wordpress.com.
