Photo; Brian Chandler
F.M. Shackle
Royal Artillery
21st January 1943, age 25.
Sursum Corda
("Sursum Corda" translates as "Lift up your hearts").
Francis Mark Shackle was born in Hendon, Middlesex in the fourth quarter of 1917 to Guy and Georgina Shackle (nee Dark). He married Diana Margaret Harrington in the fourth quarter of 1939 at Uxbridge, Middlesex.
He was accidentally killed along with a number of colleagues in a training exercise at Coanwood, Northumberland. The following is a newspaper report of the incident:
Newcastle Evening Chronicle, 23/01/1943
Military honours were accorded the funeral at Hexham today of Capt. Francis Mark Shackle (25) of Northwood, Middlesex, who was one of seven victims of the grenade fatality at Coanwood on Wednesday.
Captain Shackle died in Hexham Hospital on Thursday. A memorial service in Hexham Abbey before the internment was conducted by the Rector (Canon Farquhar), assisted by the Rev. R W Watson, Vicar of Haltwhistle and the Rev. J Lance.
The coffin covered with the Union Jack and bearing the dead officer’s cap and sword belt, had lain in the Abbey overnight. The mourners included Capt. Shackle’s widow and mother, his commanding officer and eight fellow officers. The bearer and escort party comprised nine sergeants of Capt. Shackle’s regiment.
A guard of honour was formed at the Abbey and a volley fired over the grave in Hexham Cemetery.
Acknowledgements: Ron Carson