Private John Horace Sharpe

John Horace Sharpe and his brother Walter Baden Sharpe were born in Ilkeston, in Derbyshire, England. They were the sons of John Henry Sharpe and Mary Ann Eminson, who married in April, 1889. John was the oldest child, Walter was the youngest, and they had three sisters. John Henry worked as a general labourer, a road labourer and a furnace man at a pig iron factory. Mary Ann operated a grocery shop in Ilkeston during the early 1900s.

The family immigrated to Paris in 1911 and attended St James Anglican Church. But John Henry returned to England alone a few months before his death. He was killed in an industrial accident at an ironworks factory in Ilkeston, leaving the family to continue on their own in Paris.

John Horace worked as a knitter at Penmans No. 1 Mill before the First World War. He was 25 years of age and married to Elsie May Bostock when he enlisted with the 84^th Battalion in September, 1915. He went overseas with that battalion, but on July 3, 1916, he was transferred to the 73^rd Battalion of the Canadian Infantry, the Royal Highlanders. This was a common practice for new arrivals to replace soldiers from the front line who were killed or wounded.

John deployed to France and at some point suffered a gunshot wound to the neck which was treated in the field. Four days later, he was wounded a second time in the lower back, a more severe wound that required treatment in various hospitals in England. He returned to the field in April, 1917. He returned to Paris following the war and returned to work at Penmans. He and Elsie had three sons, who served in the Second World War, and two daughters and lived at 12 Homestead Road. One of his sons, William, was killed during the Dieppe Raid in 1942. John was a member of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 29. He died in May, 1967 at 77 years of age and is buried in the Paris Cemetery.