John Tresidder Sheppard was born on 7 November 1881. He was the fourth of five children of Alfred Henry Sheppard, a woolbroker’s clerk in London, and Harriet Winifred, daughter of a Baptist pastor. He attended Dulwich College, then won a scholarship to King’s, matriculating in 1900. During his undergraduate years he was elected to the Apostles (on the same day as Lytton Strachey); he was also influenced by Oscar Browning and Nathaniel Wedd, both Fellows at King’s during that time.

After a short time teaching Classics at Emmanuel College, he was elected to a Fellowship at King’s in 1906 and was a lecturer in Classics from 1908 to 1933. He translated Greek plays, and was involved as an actor and as producer of a number of plays in Cambridge. During the First World War he did intelligence work which earned him an MBE. Sheppard returned to Cambridge after the war, and was elected Vice-Provost in 1929. From 1933 to 1954 he was Provost of the College, acting as a father figure to many undergraduates. He also developed relationships between the College and other institutions, and encouraged foreign students to apply to King's. He was knighted in 1950 for services to Greek.

On his retirement from the Provostship in 1954 he stayed on at King’s for a short while, though the transition period was not easy. He continued to lecture throughout the country, and later moved to Cap Martin, France. He died in Finchley on 7 May 1968.