Charles Richard Sharpe

Charles Richard Sharpe (2 April 1889 – 18 February 1963) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Charles Sharpe was a farmer's boy from Pickworth, near Bourne, Lincolnshire, who ran away from home to join the army at the age of sixteen. He was an Acting Corporal in the 2nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, British Army and 26 years old when the following deed took place during the Battle of Aubers Ridge in First World War for which he was awarded the VC.

The VC action
On 9 May 1915 at Rouges Bancs, France, Corporal Sharpe was in charge of a blocking party sent forward to take a portion of the German trench. He was the first to reach the enemy's position and using bombs with great effect he himself cleared them out of a trench 50 yards long. By this time all his party had fallen and he was then joined by four other men with whom he attacked the enemy with bombs and captured a further trench 250 yards long.

He had served with the 2nd Bn in the Bermuda Garrison before the war, arriving on the Western Front with that battalion 6 November 1914. He later achieved the rank of Company Sergeant Major. He left the army in 1928.

Later life
On return to civilian life, he worked at a number of jobs, notably as a physical training instructor to boys at the Hereward Camp approved school at Bourne. In World War II a number of bombs were dropped on the approved school, a row of wooden huts adjacent to Bourne Woods that may have been mistaken for a military camp; Sharpe was injured.

The Medal
His medal is held at the Museum of Lincolnshire Life in Lincoln.