Frank Sharp was born on Wednesday, 2nd November 1898 in Boxmoor, Hertfordshire to James Frederick Sharp and Ellen Hosier. Frank had an older sister Florence May, an older brother Fred (Frederick) and two younger sisters Nellie (Ellen) Rose and Elsie Evelyn.  His brother Fred fought and died almost three years to the day before him in April 1915. Fred’s biography also appears on this site. The Sharp family lived at 43 Puller Road, Boxmoor when Frank was born, and his father worked as a Sawyer at nearby Foster’s Sawmills. By 1911 the family had moved straight across the street to 30 Puller Road and twelve-year old Fred was in his final year at Boxmoor JMI school. He left on the 9th January the following year and went straight to work in the Book Binding Department at John Dickinson & Co Limited in Apsley where his older brother Fred also worked.

His father was by now a Jobbing Gardner and his older sister May was listed as "Father’s Housekeeper" whilst his mother was not present on the day of the Census. By the time Frank joined the Colours his family had moved again, this time to 59 St John’s Road in Boxmoor and would later leave the area entirely and move to Coulsdon near Croydon in Surrey.

Frank left Dickinsons a few months after his eighteenth birthday in March 1917, and went to Watford where he attested and joined an infantry battalion of the Training Reserve. By this time the Training Reserve was often used to process the large numbers of men enlisting as conscripts following the Military Services Acts of 1916. It was no longer the case that men could select the Regiment they wished to join, as the high casualty rates from the war meant that the War Office determined which units were in most need of reinforcement. As a result Frank was posted to the Lincolnshire Regiment and sent to France to join the 2nd Battalion. He joined his unit in late 1917 just at it was about to transfer to the 62nd Brigade in the 21st Division. Frank found himself in the Somme Sector in February 1918 as defensive preparations were underway and the German Spring Offensive began.

He fought throughout March in the Battles of St Quentin, Rosières and Bapaume before the 2nd Lincolnshires entrained for positions south of Ypres on the 1st April. Almost immediately, Frank was in the frontline trenches again as the Battle of the Lys began and, on the 11th April, he was wounded near Wytschaete and taken down the line. Frank clung on to life for three days before he finally succumbed to his wounds.

He died on Sunday, 14th April 1918 having been at the Front for only four months.

The Battalion Chaplain wrote to his parents in February 1919 to inform them of Frank’s end, a report of which was published in the Hemel Gazette. The loss must have been great indeed for his parents James and Ellen, who had now given their two sons, both aged only nineteen, to the cause of freedom. As with many of the soldiers buried by their comrades, Frank’s grave was subsequently lost when further fighting took place in the vicinity.

He was commemorated on the John Dickinson & Co Limited War Memorial at Apsley End where he had worked before going to war.

Frank is Remembered with Honour on Tyne Cot Memorial, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium, Panel 35 to 37.

He was only 19 years old when he died.

Frank was eligible for the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.