John Francis David Shaul was born in King's Lynn, Norfolk, on 11 September 1873. He was the only son of Sergeant John Shaul, a veteran of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Scots and his wife Hannah Matilda (née Rix). John Shaul senior had seen campaign service in Crimea and China; sadly, he would die in 1880 aged 56, leaving his family (a wife and four children) struggling in Norfolk. The difficulties the family faced, and his father's service record clearly qualified his son to attend the Duke of York's Royal Military School at Chelsea. Sadly, John's mother died in 1886 probably whilst he was at Chelsea, his three sisters did survive into adulthood. He was discharged from the school to the army in 1888 aged 15. He joined the 1st Battalion, Highland Light Infantry as a bandsman. He served in Crete in 1898 during the British occupation of the island to control a bloody revolt by ethnic Greek islanders against their Ottoman rulers. 

He departed with his battalion the following year to join British forces massing to fight the Boers in South Africa and he arrived there aboard a troopship on 11 November 1899. The battalion joined the Highland Brigade, made up of the: 2nd Black Watch, 2nd Seaforths and 1st Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. The brigade's first significant action was at Magersfontein in December. The Highland Light Infantry, being in reserve, did not suffer so severely as the other units in the brigade in the first part of the battle, but its losses throughout the day grew and became heavy as its companies fell victim to accurate and sustained fire from the Boers. Corporal Shaul was in charge of a group of other bandsmen acting as stretcher-bearers attending to the wounded on the battlefield.

The circumstances of the bravery that won Corporal John Shaul his Victoria Cross are best described by a citation recorded in the London Gazette:

'On 11th December 1899, during the Battle of Magersfontein, Corporal Shaul was observed, not only by the officers of his own battalion, but by several officers of other regiments, to perform several specific acts of bravery. Corporal Shaul was in charge of stretcher-bearers; but at one period of the battle he was seen encouraging his men to advance across the open.

He was most conspicuous during the day in dressing men's wounds, and in one case he came, under a heavy fire, to a man who was lying wounded in the back, and, with the utmost coolness and deliberation, sat down beside the wounded man and proceeded to dress the wound. Having done this, he got up and went quietly to another part of the field. This act of gallantry was performed under a continuous and heavy fire, as cooly and quietly as if there had been no enemy near.'

He was later promoted to Band Sergeant. In 1903 1st HLI left South Africa for Egypt (1903-1904) then Sudan (1904-1905) and then to India (1905-1914). He was awarded his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal in April 1907, whilst stationed in India, and left the regiment in October 1909, having served for 21 years. He married Ester Maria (née McNally) at Aliwal in the Punjab and they had three sons all born in India: John Richard, Francis David, and Thomas James, the last of whom died as a Lieutenant in the South African Medical Corps on 20 September 1940.

In 1910, John Shaul emigrated with his family to South Africa, where he worked at the East Rand Proprietry Goldmine in Boksburg in Gauteng. Shortly afterwards he joined the Imperial Light Horse (a South African Army unit) and became their Bandmaster. On 20 December 1915, he enlisted with the 5th South African Infantry Regiment and served with General Smuts' force in British and German East Africa (now Kenya and Tanzania). However, in late 1916 he was invalided home to South Africa with acute dysentery; he was discharged medically unfit on 8 November 1916. He was awarded the British War and Victory Medals for his service in World War 1. According to the medal experts Noonans of Mayfair, he was never entitled to the 1914-15 Star, which they record was added to his group of medals for 'personal reasons'. 

John Shaul served as Bandmaster with the Boksburg Military Band for 27 years which was founded in 1912 and entertained the then Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) and Prince George (later Duke of Kent) during their visits to Boksburg. Shaul received his Meritorious Service Medal in 1946 and retired from the East Rand Proprietary Goldmine in 1948. He died in Boksburg, South Africa, on 14 September 1953, three days after celebrating his 80th birthday.

His medal group was last auctioned at Noonans on 5 April 2006, selling for a 'hammer price' of £140,000 and it is now part of a collection of VCs owned by Lord Ashcroft. The medals are on display as a loaned collection at the Imperial War Museum in London, they comprise the following (from left to right):

·      Victoria Cross

·      Queen's South Africa 1899-1902, with three clasps i.e. Cape Colony, Wittebergen and Transvaal

·      King's South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902

·      1914-15 Star (which he was apparently not entitled to wear)

·      British War Medal

·      Victory Medal

·      Coronation Medal of 1937

·      Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal

·      Meritorious Service Medal.