Name
Frank Sharp
2 November 1898
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
14/04/1918
19
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
43942
Lincolnshire Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TYNE COT MEMORIAL
Panel 35 to 37 and 162 to 162A.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial,
John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills, Apsley,
St John the Evangelist Memorial Church, Boxmoor
Pre War
Frank Sharp was born on 2 November 1898 in Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead, Herts, the son of James and Ellen Sharp and one of five children.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 43 Puller Road, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was working as a Sawyer (general labourer) at Fosters Sawmills.
By the 1911 Census, the family had moved across the road to 30 Puller Road, Boxmoor and Frank was a schoolboy in his final year at Boxmoor School. When he left the following year he began work in the Book Binding Department at John Dickinson & Co Ltd at Apsley where his older brother Fred also worked.
At the time of enlistment, the family were living at 59 St John's Road, Boxmoor and his parents later lived at 6 Howe Farm, Chipstead, Surrey, followed by a move to Coulsdon, near Croydon, Surrey.
Wartime Service
Frank enlisted in Watford and served Initially with the 252nd Infantry Battalion under reg. no. 6610 for training. He was then transferred to the 2nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment and sent to France in 1917 and joined his unit late in the year.
The Battalion were in the Somme area in February 1918 making defensive preparations when the German Spring Offensive began. He fought in the Battles of St Quentin, Rosieres and Bapaume in March, followed by the Battle of the Lys in early April.
On 11 April he was wounded at Wytschaete, Belgium but, although taken for treatment, he died of his wounds three days later on 14 April 1918, aged 19. A local newspaper published a report of his death and the letter his parents had received from the Battalion Chaplain.
Although the Chaplain wrote that he had buried Frank at Wytschaete, the Germans recaptured the area on 16 April 1918 and details of burials were lost. There are 673 unidentified burials in the cemetery at Wytschaete and he may be one of them. As he has no known grave his name is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial.
Additional Information
Brother to Frederick Sharp, who died in 1915 and who is also named on the Hemel Hempstead and Boxmoor Memorials.
His father received a war gratuity of £4 and pay owing of £7 6s 2d and his mother received a pension of 11 shillings a week for the death of Frederick and Frank.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.hemelheroes.com., www.hemelatwar.org., www.dacorumheritage.org.uk.
