2/Lieutenant Leon Owen SHARP of the 2nd Lincolnshires - reading his Medal card

[CommanderChuff]

Dear Friends,

I am a volunteer with the IWM War Memorials Register team and have been surveying and photographing memorials in the county for the last 4 years, covering 4,000 miles on my bicycle and photographing over 1,000 memorials. I have been directed to an unlisted memorial in St Marks church in Leamington Spa and am preparing to open a new record on our memorials register.  Previously I was posting to the forum as CommanderChuff.

I have collated the story of Leon Sharp from various sources and have attached his medal card for your consideration.  Leon enlisted in the RFC as Air Mech 2 in 1914, was promoted to 1st Air Mech in 1915 and was awarded the medals shown on the card. In April 1916 he was promoted to officer and moved to the Lincolnshires.   On 1st July he was killed in the First day of fighting on the Somme.

My question is:  how to the medals awarded reflect his promotion to officer?

IWM Memorial: 2nd/Lieutenant Leon Owen SHARP - The Lincolnshire Regiment.

Midland Bank Employees, Military Service. London Joint City and Midland Bank Memorial - Midland Bank Roll of Honour 1914-1920 Transcription.

1. Leon Owen SHARP. Born 1894. Mother Ada Annie, Father Thomas Sharp of "Oakdale," Leamington Spa.

2. Employed Midland Bank as clerk.

3. Date 19 August 1914: enlisted Air Force (RAF/RFC), Air Mechanic 2nd Class. Service Number: 1618.  TNA reference: AIR 79/22/1618 (1918-1928).

4.  Date 03 Apr 1915: Awarded Victory and Star medals.  Promoted to First Air Mechanic. Medal Card TNA WO-372-18-9848

5.  Date 23 Apr 1916: Promoted to Second Lieutenant, and transferred to Lincolnshire Regiment, 2nd Battalion.  Was with the 2nd Lincs on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.   The London Gazette 16. 4653, page 4611.  TNA reference: WO 339/59709.

6.  Date 1^st July 1916: killed in action on the first day of the battle of the Somme.  Buried CWGC Cemetery Memorial, Lonsdale Cemetery, Authuille, France. Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Certificate.

[PRC]

1 hour ago, DAustin158 said:

My question is:  how to the medals awarded reflect his promotion to officer?

Short answer - they don't.

Served in a Theatre of War - qualified for the Victory Medal and British War Medal.

First landed in a Theatre of War 3rd April 1915 - fell within the qualifying period for the 1914/15 Star.

Rank is irrelevant to which service medals he qualified for. See https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/how-to-research-a-soldier/campaign-medal-records/the-british-campaign-medals-for-the-great-war/

Cheers,
Peter

Edited 27 December , 2021 by PRC
Typo

[charlie962]

5 minutes ago, PRC said:

1 hour ago, DAustin158 said:

My question is:  how to the medals awarded reflect his promotion to officer?

Short answer - they don't

To be fair the naming on the medals does reflect his transition. The 14/15 star will have his rank/unit at date of entry to France ie 2am RFC whereas his bwm and VM show highest rank and last unit for theatre, don't they?

Charlie

[Old Owl]

Welcome to the Forum,

Put simply:

His 1914/15 Star will be named to him with his service number, rank, surname and initials also his unit as R.F.C. as shown on his MIC;  his BWM and VM will be named 2/Lt L.O.Sharp with no unit/regiment noted.

This is quite normal for WW1 pairs to officers commissioned into British line regiments.

Hope this helps?

Robert

[charlie962]

2 minutes ago, Old Owl said:

no unit/regiment noted.

of course!

[charlie962]

3 hours ago, DAustin158 said:

3. Date 19 August 1914: enlisted Air Force (RAF/RFC), Air Mechanic 2nd Class. Service Number: 1618.  TNA reference: AIR 79/22/1618 (1918-1928).

He actually attested as a Private to the Army Service Corps on 7/8/14- ie he went straight down to the Recruiting office when War was declared. He was transferred to the RFC on 19/8/14. On his Attestation Form it says he was previously in the OTC in Grantham in 1911 ?

 This clipping courtesy FindmyPast shows his link to Lincolnshire:

Charlie

[PRC]

3 hours ago, charlie962 said:

To be fair the naming on the medals does reflect his transition. The 14/15 star will have his rank/unit at date of entry to France ie 2am RFC whereas his bwm and VM show highest rank and last unit for theatre, don't they?

Good point - I was addressing the impact on the actual service medals awarded question. Those would be the same regardless of rank.

The wording on his BWM and VM would reflect highest rank served in a theatre of war. However once again thats generic -  whether it's Private\AM2 on the 1914/15 Star to Corporal on the VM/BWM or Lieutenant Colonel to Major General. Hopefully @DAustin158 will clarify which aspect he is after

5 hours ago, DAustin158 said:

The London Gazette 16. 4653, page 4611.

Supplement to the London Gazette dated 10th May 1916. Supplement number was 29575 - the first page was 4653. Gazetted as a Temporary, (i.e. wartime only), 2nd Lieutenant on probation, with effect from the 23rd April 1916, in the Lincolnshire Regiment. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29575/supplement/1

(Had to check as the MiC date can sometime be the day the man was released from his enlistment in order to take up his commission on the following day).

5 hours ago, DAustin158 said:

Date 1^st July 1916: killed in action on the first day of the battle of the Somme.

Bit more detail on the 2nd Lincolns on this day can be found on Page 169 The History of the Lincolnshire Regiment editied by Major General C R Simpson - the whole book can be read \ downloaded from archive.org.

5 hours ago, DAustin158 said:

Buried CWGC Cemetery Memorial, Lonsdale Cemetery, Authuille, France.

He was originally buried at Paisley Avenue Cemetery but in 1920 his body was moved to it's current resting place. On his CWGC webpage there is a Concentration Report with a little bit more detail.

Image courtesy the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/532367/l-o-sharp/

The CWGC webpage for Lonsdale Cemetery has this in the History Section.

On 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the 32nd Division, which included the 1st Dorsets and the 11th (Lonsdale) Battalion of the Border Regt attacked the German line at this point and stormed the Leipzig Salient, but were compelled to retire later in the day. In the spring of 1917, after the German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line, V Corps cleared these battlefields and made a number of new cemeteries, including Lonsdale No.1 and No.2.

Lonsdale Cemetery No.1 (the present Lonsdale Cemetery) contained originally 96 graves (now in Plot I), the great majority of which were those of officers and men of the 1st Dorsets and the 11th Borders. It was enlarged after the Armistice when graves, almost all of 1916, were brought in from the surrounding battlefields and from other small burial grounds, including:-

PAISLEY AVENUE and PAISLEY HILLSIDE CEMETERIES, which were on the South side of Thiepval Wood. They contained the graves of 284 soldiers and Marines from the United Kingdom (mainly of the 49th (West Riding) Division), who fell in July 1916 - February 1917, and two German soldiers.

https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/59400/lonsdale-cemetery-authuille/

He turns up on the 1916 Probate Calendar.

https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar?surname=Sharp&yearOfDeath=1916&page=3#calendar

As an officer his medals had to be applied for, and details would normally be visible on the back of the card as to who applied for them. Unfortunately Ancestry have attached their template blank card on their website.

Hope some of that helps,
Peter

Edited 27 December , 2021 by PRC
Typo

[clk]

Hi,

3 hours ago, DAustin158 said:

Leon Owen SHARP. Born 1894.

Baptised 10.1.1894



Image sourced from Ancestry

3 hours ago, DAustin158 said:

Buried CWGC Cemetery Memorial, Lonsdale Cemetery, Authuille, France. Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Certificate.

As per Peter, his CWGC record shows that he was reinterred there from map reference 57d.R.32.c.9.1 (in Paisley Avenue Cemetery). That is likely to be much closer to where he fell, and can be located by putting the reference into this website - link. For the time of his death, (as free downloads from the National Archives) the Bn, Bde HQ, and Division HQ war diaries are here, here, and here. There is help on reading map references here.

From Ancestry, in the1911 census he appears to be here; and in the 1901 census here.

Regards
Chris

[CommanderChuff]

Thank you so much to all of your very useful and interesting replies.   I have been surveying so many memorials over the years and most have been easier to get information on.  Nearly all of those are of soldiers of high rank and with bravery awards, and their history is well documented.  However, this chap seemed to stand out from the crowd by being a enlisted man in 1914 and then an officer two years later, only to be killed shortly afterwards.  It seemed that the scraps of information was about two different people with the same name.  To find the correct details needed the help of real experts.

I have just 30 memorials to survey to complete my mission of surveying every memorial in Warwickshire, over 1,000 in 450 locations.  And then, as I have already started on the counties to the west of Warwick, the next few years will see the completion of three more counties.

I hope that you are all well in these difficult times and looking forward to the New Year with anticipation.

All the Best,
David

 

Edited 28 December , 2021 by CommanderChuff

[Michelle Young]

Your Commander Chuff account is still active. Dual membership is not allowed on the forum. Which membership do you wish to retain please? We can merge the accounts so no posts will be lost.

Michelle 

[CommanderChuff]

Hallo Michelle,

thanks, please revert to CommanderChuff.

[PRC]

And to flesh out the earlier part of his life:-

The birth of a Leon Owen Sharp, mothers maiden name Weaver, was recorded with the civil authorities in the Warwick District in the October to December quarter, (Q4), of 1893.

The Warwick Civil Registration District included the civil parishes of Leamington and Leamington Priors. https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/warwick.html

As identified by @clk he was baptised at Leamington on the 10th January 1894, son of Thomas and Ada Annie Sharp. I can’t make out the fathers’ occupation. The family lived at Warwick Street in the parish.

The baptism took place at All Saints Church, Leamington. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XXY2-46J

(On the 1891 census of England & Wales Thomas & Ada, three of their children including a 10 year old Thomas F, and Adas’ mother Emma Weaver were recorded living at Highbury Cottage, Oswold Road, Milverton, Leamington. Father Thomas was recorded as a Decorator).

On the 1901 census of England & Wales the Sharp family were recorded at Oakdean, 5a Regent Street, Leamington – the other addresses on the same page of the Census Schedule are all Warwick Street. Father Thomas, (43, born Leamington), was recorded as a decorator but also an Employer. Along with his wife Ada Annie, (42, born Birmingham) his household consisted of his children:-

Francis F……aged 20…born Leamington…Decorators Clerk
Ernest J……..aged 16…born Leamington…Decorator
Bertie S……..aged 10…born Leamington
Leon O………aged 7….born Leamington
Ada F………..aged 5….born Leamington
Horace P….aged 8 months…born Leamington

And his widowed mother-in-law Emma Weaver.

Apparently Leon is remembered at North Leamington School as a former pupil. https://leamingtonobserver.co.uk/news/north-leamington-school-remembers-somme-fallen/

He is also on the The Kings School, Grantham, Great War memorial but is remembered there with the surname spelt Sharpe. https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/267866/

The 18 year old Leon Owen Sharp, born Leamington, Warwickshire, and working as a Bank Clerk, was recorded on the 1911 Census of England & Wales as a boarder at a dwelling on the High Street, Moreton in Marsh, Gloucestershire.

His family were recorded still living at 5a Regent Street, Lemington. Father Thomas, (53), was still listed as a Home Decorator and Employer. He and wife Ada Annie, (52), state that they have been married 31 years and have had 8 children, of which 6 were then still alive. Still single and living with them were Francis F, (30, Clerk), Ernest J, (26, Working Decorator), and Florence A. (15, School Girl). The family also have a live in servant, plus on the night of the census they had a visitor.

Father Thomas died in 1927. The 1928 Probate Calendar records that Thomas Sharp of 5a Regent Street, Leamington Spa, died on the 21st December 1927. Probate was granted to Thomas Frederick Sharp and Ernest John Sharp, house decorators. https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar?surname=Sharp&yearOfDeath=1928&page=4#calendar

As the house number remained the same, it may be that the 1901 Census schedule was incorrect in showing the house name as Oakdean instead of Oakdale, or it changed over the years, or CWGC is in error. The address is currently being let as a 10 bedroom semidetached Student property. Google Streetview appears to show only a number on the premises. It is on the junction of Regent Street and Warwick Street.

May be a co-incidence but FMP are showing Great War era military records for a Thomas Frederick Sharp with a connection to Leamington, born circa 1881, and an Ernest John Sharp with connection to Warwickshire, born circa 1885.

Hope that helps,
Peter

 

Edited 28 December , 2021 by PRC
Formatting & Typo

[charlie962]

Leon Sharp appears on at least three Memorial plates at Moreton in Marsh ! There is also an Oscar Sharp. Any relation?

[PRC]

7 minutes ago, charlie962 said:

There is also an Oscar Sharp. Any relation?

Died in India on the 18th December 1918, aged 44. Additional information on CWGC is "Son of William and Louisa Sharp; husband of Eliza Annie Sharp, of 7, Oddfellows Terrace, Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire." https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1481982/oscar-sharp/

No obvious match in the civil birth records for England & Wales, and not finding any good census matches for England & Wales either based on that age. Nothing coming up on SDGW. There is a marriage of an Oscar Sharp to an Eliza Annie Brown recorded in the Wellingborough District of Northamptonshire in Q2 1909.

There is a very likely match on the 1911 Census - a 27 year old Eliza Annie Sharp, born Poddington, Bedfordshire, was recorded living with her husband of two years at Odd Fellows Terrace, Moreton In Marsh. He is an Oscar Sharp - but he has recorded himself as 25 years old when completing the census return. He'd have to be more like 35 for the age on CWGC to be correct. However address is too much of a co-incidence. This Oscar was a Rural Postman born Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, so in answer to your original question - probably total co-incidence

Cheers,
Peter

[charlie962]

Just now, PRC said:

probably total co-incidence

Thanks. It was a coincidence also that they had two unusual forenames , Leon and Oscar.

[ianshuter]

thank you to contributors, info used in our research into Warwick School and Warwickshire War Memorials.