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Drmr. Edgar Joseph Sharp
British Army 8th Sherwood Foresters British Army
from:Newark
(d.2nd Nov 1917)
My maternal Grandfather Edgar Joseph Sharp was born in Farndon, Newark, Notts on 14th January 1878 to Joseph and Jane (nee Aldridge) Sharp, one of five children. Between June 1880 and April 1881 the Sharps moved to King Street, Newark, and later to Mill Gate. Edgar married Edith May Hawksworth at Christ Church, Newark on 13th June 1909, and they had three daughters. They settled in Farndon Fields, and later moved to Parliament Street, Newark.
Edgar signed up in the Territorials in Newark in 1908, and was mobilised for war service on 5th August 1914. The 8th Battalion proceeded to France, landing at Boulogne on the 25th of February being first complete Territorial Division to arrive in a theatre of war when they joined the BEF in the Ypres salient. Drummer Edgar Sharp, was from the B Company 7 Platoon 1st/8th Sherwood Foresters. Later the 8th Battalion moved to Egypt, and then back to France in January 1916.
It seems that he was posted on gas sentry duty above the Company HQ dugout shortly before six on the morning of 2nd November 1917. At five past six he was hit by a piece of shrapnel from a German shell, and died as a result. I have tried to pinpoint precisely where. I know from what I have seen that the 1st/8th were located on the left sub-sector of the Bde. Front of Hill 70, and an extract from diaries of the 1st/7th Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters - who swapped duties with the 1st/8th Battalion - refer quite clearly our front line as being between Bois Ras and Bois Hugo. As my Grandfather's Company were covering the left sector, he was perhaps closer to Bois Hugo.
Edgar is buried in the Philosphe Cemetery at Mazingarbe. His Company Sergeant Major, J F Rawding, wrote to my grandmother, and below is an extract from his letter: "I posted him myself on Gas sentry over Coy HQ dug-out, and at five minutes past six (a.m.) on the 2/11/17 he was hit by a piece of shell and I can say that he never suffered any pain. He was killed instantly. He was well liked by everyone in the Company, even his Officers thought a lot of Dr or Runner Sharp. I myself have known him as a soldier in the Newark Company for many years. He was one of my best runners who could always be relied upon to take a message. Only a few minutes before his death we were talking about the old times we used to have in Newark."
