Name
Herbert Sharp
1881
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
24/10/1917
37
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
27821
Bedfordshire Regiment
7th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
REGINA TRENCH CEMETERY, GRANDCOURT
IV. E. 29.
France
Headstone Inscription
Greater love hath no man than this
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin Town Memorial, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour (Book), Hitchin
Pre War
Herbert was born in 1881 in Hitchin and christened on 13 June 1883 in St. Mary’s Church, Hitchin. His parents were Arthur and Alice Sharp (née Worsley) and they married in St Mary’s Church, Hitchin on 29 March 1880. Alice was the daughter of George and Mary Ann Worsley.
In 1881 the family were living at 9 Barnard’s Yard, Back St Hitchin. Present were both parents: Arthur (19) and Alice (23), with Arthur working as a bricklayer’s labourer and Alice as a straw plaiter. Their children were: Arthur George (2) and Herbert – two weeks old. Young Arthur is recorded with the surname Sharp, however he was born before the marriage and was registered as Arthur George Worsley, but baptised as Arthur Sharp, so it is possible that Arthur was his father. However, despite Arthur being baptised and listed as Sharp in the censuses, he served as Worsley.
In 1891 the family had moved to 2 Warren’s Yard (on Lyles Row), Hitchin. Present were both parents, with Arthur still working as a bricklayer’s labourer. Their children were now: Arthur, Herbert and new siblings Elizabeth (8) and Alfred (5).
On the 9th January 1896, he enlisted in the Local Militia the 4th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, with the Service Number 3230. Then he enlisted in the regular army on the 23rd August 1897, posted to the Bedfordshire Regiment, with the Service Number 6060. Signing on for 7 years and 5 years in the reserve. He served in the UK from 23rd August 1897 to 21st September 1899. India from 22nd September 1899 to 8th February 1905. His brother (or half-brother) Arthur followed a similar path but a little later than Herbert.
In 1901 the family were living at the same address, but Herbert was absent, as explained above, but both parents were present, Elizabeth (now Lizzie), Alfred and new siblings Fred (9) and George (5). Herbert’s father was now working as a sweeper on the GNR railway.
Herberts arrived back in England on 9th February 1905, and was transferred to the reserve on 11th February 1905, on completion of his service.
By 1911 the family were now back in Barnards Yard, Queen Street, Hitchin, as they had been in 1881, but now at number 13. Present were both parents, Arthur now working as a linesman labourer on the railway. Herbert left had the Army, returned home, and was listed an unemployed labourer – presumably explaining his return, and also present were his brothers Alfred ( a greengrocer’s hawker), Fred (also a general labourer unemployed) and George (a stationer’s errand boy). The census recorded that Arthur and Alice had been married for 32 years with 10 children, of whom 4 had died.
Before the war worked at the Hitchin Gasworks.
Officially recorded as born, living and enlisting in Hitchin.
Wartime Service
Herbert was already an experienced soldier when he enlisted in Hitchin, re-joining the Bedfordshire Regiment and was given the Regimental Service Number 27821, Unusually for a ex-serving soldier it seems did not go overseas until after the end of 1915.
He was killed in action by a shell fragment in France while serving with the 7th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment.
The Battalion was in the 54th Brigade and was in the line at Regina Trench about 3 miles north west of Thiepval at the date of his death. They had only returned to the line on the 23rd October having been out of the line for three weeks. Continuous rain and seas of mud prevented any attack and such trenches as there were, were continually bombarded. The trenches were so bad that the earth collapsed when attempts were made to dig. There were no dug-outs and all the sides of the trenches were blown in.
He is buried in Plot 4, Row E, Grave 29 in the Regina Trench Cemetery, Grandcourt, Somme, France. A private inscription on the headstone reads “Greater love hath no man than this”.
Additional Information
After his death £1 15s 11d pay owing was authorised to go to his father on 29 March 1917. Later, a war gratuity of £3 was authorised to be paid to him on 13 November 1919.
His pension cards record his father as his next of kin and living at 85 Queen Street and 16 Wedmore Road, Hitchin – probably in that order. He was awarded a pension of 6s 6d a week from 13 May 1919.
His brother (or half brother) Arthur also died in War.
*1 The CWGC records record him as the husband of Alice Sharp of 85, Queens Street, Hitchin, but no details of a marriage to an Alice were found and it seems this was his mother.
Acknowledgments
Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Stuart Osborne, Jonty Wild
