CPL FRED LESLIE SHARPE MM 11/393. Born in Hull, March 1896, Fred was the second of four sons to Gordon and Louisa Sharpe of 5 Habro Terrace, Freehold Street, Hull. A Clerk by trade, he enlisted at Hull City Hall on 27th October 1914, joining the 11th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, ‘The Tradesmen’, 2nd Hull Pals. His escapades during training did not suggest a man who would go on to become a decorated Corporal, three times he was charged- overstaying a pass, being caught drunk in quarters and sneaking out of camp- but he seems to have calmed down once his war began in earnest. Serving in Egypt over the Winter of 1915-16, the Pals entered the trenches in late March and fought on the Somme where Fred received a serious gunshot wound to the face. He recovered and served also at Oppy Wood where he survived the bloodbath in front of those shell-splintered trees on the morning of 3rd May 1917. In and out of the lines with psoriasis over the course of the year, he returned to Hull on leave in mid-March 1918 where he married Nellie Hammond. She lived at 9 West View, Wyndam Street, Hull (War Pension Address). Their married life lasted precisely 24 hours. Fred returned to Flanders for the final time on the 31st March Listed as missing on 12th April 1918 during the darkest hours of the German Spring Offensive, his Military Records reveal numerous letters from his mother requesting updates on news of her son. Finally, she receives the testimony of a Private GH Smith 27856:
“I saw Corporal Sharpe lying out very seriously wounded in the body and I’m sure it was not possible for him to live long. The Germans were advancing quickly and there was a wide ditch for us to cross over to get him in. We had to leave him.”
The real story of that day is in the unwritten words between those lines. Fred Leslie Sharpe is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial; he was 22 years old.
Frederick Leslie Sharpe’s war pension went to his widow Nellie. She later remarried and became Mrs Wrightson.
