Annie Humphrey was born at 43. Shepherd’s Place Building, Mayfair, London, England, on the 22nd September 1890, the daughter of Arthur William and Elizabeth Humphrey (née Andrews). Her father was a porter, and later, a railway shunter.
Having completed her education, it is thought that she became a domestic servant, most likely a lady’s maid.
On the 7th September 1913, she married John Sharp at St. Peter’s Church, Islington London. John Sharp was an Able Seaman assigned to H.M.S King George V, a Royal Navy battleship.
By early 1915, she was maid to Mrs Anna Allan, the wife of Bryce Allan, who owned the Allan Line shipping company. The Allan’s permanent residence was in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States of America, but they spent a lot of their time in England, and it is likely that Annie Sharp was engaged as Mrs. Allan’s maid in the summer of 1914, when she had been in England.
In the spring of 1915, with the War escalating in Europe, Annie Sharp decided to return to England to be nearer to her husband, and booked third cabin passage on the May sailing of the Lusitania from New York to England.
She boarded the liner at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York, on the morning of 1st May 1915, in time for her scheduled 10.00 a.m. departure, but then had to wait until the early afternoon of that day before the liner actually sailed. This was because she had to load cargo and embark passengers and crew from Anchor Liner the S.S. Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for war service as a troop ship at the end of April.
Six days later, in the early afternoon of 7th May, the Lusitania was torpedoed within sight of the coast of southern Ireland, by the German submarine U-20 and sank within 20 minutes. At that stage of her voyage, she was only about 250 miles away from the safety of her Liverpool home port.
Annie Sharp was fortunate to survive the sinking, and having been landed at Queenstown, she was able to make her way back to London. She was aged 24 years at the time of the sinking; however, on the passenger manifest, her age is recorded as being 32 years!
Annie Sharp and her husband had two children – Violet H., born in 1920, and Lionel C., born in 1922, and the family lived at various addresses in the Forest Hill area of London in the following years, before settling at 45. Ravensbourne Road, Forest Hill, London.
Her husband, John, having retired from the Royal Navy, found work as a general labourer, and then, on the 2nd August 1944, was killed at High Street, Lewisham, London. As his name is recorded as one of the civilian war dead during the Second World War by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, it is likely he was killed during a German V1 or V2 rocket attack.
Following her husband’s death, Annie Sharp went to live with her daughter, who had married a George Arthur Kapp, at 37. Gabriel Street, Forest Green. Violet’s marriage ended in divorce, with George Arthur Kapp remarrying in 1951. It is not known if Violet remarried.
By 1967, Annie Sharp and her daughter had moved to Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, and
by 1972 they were residing at 304. Park Street East, Mississauga, Ontario. Nothing further is known about her after this.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Westminster London England Church of England Births and Baptisms 1813 – 1919, London England Church of England Marriages and Banns 1754 – 1936, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1939 Register, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Canada Voters Lists 1935 – 1980, Boston Evening Transcript, Edmonton Journal, PRO BT 100/345, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.