Colonel Richard T L Shorrock OBE MID

Col Richard TL Shorrock OBE MiD served with airborne forces throughout the Second World War and was a member of The 1st Airborne 'Dungeon Party'. Initially attached as Deputy Assistant Director of Ordnance he later became Commander REME.

Richard Thomas Livesey Shorrock was born on the 21st November 1901 in Blackburn, Lancashire.

Up until 1917 he attended Blackburn Higher Grade School, and was a Scholarship boy at Blackburn Grammar School. From 1917 until 1922 he attended Blackburn Technical College of Engineering. From 1917 until 1923 he was apprenticed to Engineering at Messrs Clayton Goodfellow & Co, Ltd. This was at the Atlas Iron Works in Blackburn, where he gained a thorough practical and technical knowledge of Machine Shop practice, turning, shaping, milling, tool fitting, etc. Plus he worked for two years in the Fitting and Erecting Shop.

From 1923 to 1930 he was the Outside Erector and Maintenance Supervisor for Messrs Clayton Goodfellow & Co, Ltd, including Cotton Mills, Paper Mills, Collieries, Brickworks, etc.

He was the Chief Engineer at Marston Valley Brick Co, Ltd from 1930 to 1934. He was responsible for the supervising and maintaining erection of Mechanical and Structural Plant valued at £750,000:- comprising large and small excavators – Tractors – Locos’ – etc, for Quarry Plant. Road and Aerial Haulage Systems – Conveyors for raw material, Grinders – Presses – Fleet of Lorries – Completely equipped Machine Shop for Maintenance.

From 1934 to 1940 he was the Works Manager and Engineer Supervisor for the Marston Valley Brick Co, Ltd, producing 8 million bricks per week, responsible for 1500 personnel, a fleet of 180 lorries for the distribution of products, also the supervision of 1000 tons of bricks per day, and rail deliveries. The supervision of the Purchasing Department and the Normal Office Routine.

He was granted a commission as a Lieutenant (Ordnance Mechanical Engineer 4th Class) in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps and posted to the Field Stores, Aldershot on6 June 1940. Here he was made responsible for the maintenance of tanks, Bren Gun Carriers and all types of ‘A’ vehicles.

He was posted to the 24th (Guards) Infantry Brigade on 8 July 1940 as the Officer Commanding, (Officer Mechanical Engineering, Light Aid Detachment), as Acting Captain.

On 27 November 1941 he was appointed as the Deputy Director Ordnance Services at the Headquarters, Airborne Division.

He was then posted to the General Headquarters – Home Forces as the Deputy Assistant Director of Ordnance Services (Ordnance Mechanical Engineer 2nd Class) on the 8th December 1941. This was a short lived posting as he was then posted back to the 1st Airborne Division on the 31st December 1941.

Temporary Major Shorrock attended a selection course at the newly formed Depot for the Parachute Units and Airborne Forces at Hardwick near Chesterfield on 22 June 1942, and having passed this he went on to RAF Ringway to carry out a parachute course. This was course 17 (B), which ran from 7 to the 12 July 1942. It was short course of 2 descents from a balloon and 2 descents from a Whitley aircraft.

On 1 October 1942 Captain (Temorary Major) Shorrock transferred to the newly formed Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers, and on 12 March 1943 he was appointed the Commander Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers (Electrical Mechanical Engineer 1st Class) of the 1st Airborne Division, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

He embarked in the United Kingdom, for service overseas, on 16 May 1943, and ten days later disembarked in North Africa. This was the main group move of the 1st Airborne Division that took place to reinforce the 1st Parachute Brigade and prepare for further airborne operations in the Mediterranean Theatre.

After the invasion of Sicily had taken place it was necessary to send a ‘team’ of officers to evaluate the actions of the 1st Parachute and 1st Airlanding Brigade’s. So, Colonel Shorrock went to Sicily on 30 July and spent over a week travelling the various sites where the airborne actions had taken place, and in some cases recovered equipment that had been left behind. He returned to the 1st Airborne Division’s Main base in M’Saken in North Africa on 9 August 1943.

His next major action was the invasion of Italy on operation ‘Slapstick’, and he embarked at Bizerta on 7 September 1943 and disembarked in the Italian port of Taranto on 9/10 September. He remained with the 1st Airborne Division in Italy until 27 November 1943, when he embarked for return to the UK, where he arrived on 10 December 1943. He was Mentioned in Despatches for his distinguished service in Italy in 1943, published in the London Gazette, 24 August 1944.

His association with the 1st Airborne Division, in a direct manner, came to an end on the 18th January 1944, when he was promoted to Colonel and appointed as the Deputy Director of Mechanical Engineers at the Headquarters Airborne Troops, under the command of Lieut General FAM Browning. Between June 1944 and March 1945 he regularly visited troops on the Continent, especially the 6th Airborne Division. While serving with 1st AB Corps, Lt Col Shorrock formulated a plan to have a centralised Airborne Corps REME Detachment at Moor Park, with the senior REME officer having a REME section under his direct command. The detachment had one officer and 36 men and could be tasked at short notice to embark on operations with carefully curated supplies of spares unique to the operation.

The original plan for Market Garden in September 1944, called for this detachment to be flown to Brussels (complete with jeeps and workshop trailers) and then by road to Nijmegen.  Unfortunately, weather and competing logistics demands would mean the detachment would have to unload their carefully prepared gliders on 14 and 15 September and proceed by road from RAF Barkston Heath to set sail on LCT 501 on 16 Sept 1944.  Arriving at Arromanches on 17 Sept, the detachment then made its way to Nijmegen via congested roads.

Shorrock, as DDME, arrived with the detachment at Nijmegen on 21 Sept and immediately liaised with British units as well as the US 82nd Airborne Division. He was instrumental in arranging repairs for US equipment, including a number of 75mm howitzers. He also arranged for the unit to work out of garages in Rembrandt Straat where they stayed until heavy shelling forced them to move to the Swift Shoe Factory. During this time the 82nd Airborne Division relied heavily on the services of this detachment for repairs, as their own engineers had not reached the area.

Returning to the UK in October 1944, Lt Col Shorrock was recommended for an OBE, which he received in 1946. 

He was released from Military Service and granted the Honorary rank of Colonel on 21 October 1945.