Next of kin plaque: Private Reginald Reed Shapland, 6th Light Trench Mortar Battery, AIF

Bronze next of kin plaque, showing on the obverse, Britannia holding a laurel wreath, the British lion, dolphins, a spray of oak leaves and the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' around the edge. Beneath the main figures, the British lion defeats the German eagle. The initials 'ECP', for the designer Edward Carter Preston appear above the lion's right forepaw. A raised rectangle above the lion's head bears the name of the dead soldier 'REGINALD REED SHAPLAND'. Plaque is contained original waxed cardboard box of issue.

Born in Credition, Devon, England in 1894 Reginald Reed Shapland emigrated to Australia with his family in 1911, following his eldest brother, Percy, who had emigrated alone in 1906. He was employed on the family dairy farm near Arawata, Victoria when he enlisted in the AIF on 3 February 1915, again following Percy who had enlisted in 1914.

After initial training Shapland was posted a private, service number 968, to D Company of the newly raised 21st Battalion. The unit sailed from Melbourne on 10 May, aboard HMAT A38 Ulysses. Although it landed at Gallipoli on 7 September Shapland did not accompany them as he had previously been hospitalised in Egypt and only recently been discharged for light duties. He finally joined the battalion at Anzac on 25 October.

In March 1916 21st Battalion left Egypt for France and service on the Western Front. Shapland saw action and Pozieres and Mouquet Farm in July before being transferred to the 6th Light Trench Mortar Battery the following month. He was killed instantly by the wire at the first Hindenberg Line at Bullecourt, France on 4 May 1917, and fell back into a shell hole. A witness later explained: '[he] as not buried because we could not hold the position and had to fall back'. Shapland has no known grave and is commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.

This commemorative plaque was sent to his father, Edwin John Shapland, in August 1922. Shapland's eldest brother, Percy, served with 8th Battalion AIF. He was seriously wounded in the spine and shoulder at Gallipoli on 29 April 1915 and evacuated to Egypt, where he died at 2nd Australian General Hospital on 4 May.