Private Walter Baden Sharpe

John Horace Sharpe and 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.

Walter following in his brother’s footsteps, enlisted with the 125^th Battalion during the First World War, he was working as a spinner at Penmans. What he did not tell the recruiting officer was that he was only 15 years old. So, Walter crossed the Atlantic aboard the S.S. Scandinavian with his fellows in the 9^th Platoon, but his true age was uncovered, and he was denied a posting to the front.

Thousands of underage boys, driven by patriotism, a sense of adventure, or peer pressure, enlisted and some of them were undiscovered and served in combat roles. Others, like Walter, received military training and others served in special programs like Soldiers of the Soil, whose farm work contributed to the war effort. Around 20,000 underaged Canadian boys served during the First World War, with many serving in the trenches of France and Belgium.

Walter was transferred to the 2^nd Central Ontario Regiment Depot Battalion in East Sandling, England. He requested and was granted a transfer to the Young Soldiers’ Battalion and was assigned to No. 1 Company in Bramshott. That battalion trained young recruits for the battlefield, but Walter did not get to use that training. In November, 1919, Walter sailed back to Canada on the S.S. Aquitania and returned to civilian life in Paris. He worked until his retirement at Penmans, as a spinner and later as a security guard.