George Samuel Sharp was born in Melbourne, Derbyshire, England, on the 29th December 1899, the son of Samuel and Mary Jane Sharp (née Mills). His father was a wheelwright and joiner, and the family home was at South Street, Melbourne. He had an older brother, Harry, who was born in 1889. Residing with the family for many years was John Bird, who was a nephew of his mother, and who might have been adopted by the family.
In late 1914, his father had been employed at Donington Hall, near Derby, preparing it for use as a prisoner of war camp for captured Germans, and on completing his work, in February 1915, the entire family decided on a holiday. They boarded the Lusitania at Liverpool, and travelled to New York City, from where they made their way to Crooksville, Ohio, where John Bird had settled a number of years previously.
Whereas the family travelled for a holiday, his older brother, Harry, decided to stay in Crooksville with John Bird, and thus, George and his parents set out to return to their home in England. Consequently, they booked third class passage on the Lusitania, for the trans-Atlantic crossing which was scheduled to begin at 10.00 a.m. on 1st May 1915.
The great liner left her moorings at Pier 54 just after mid-day on 1st May 1915, on what would become her final trans-Atlantic passage. She was originally scheduled to leave the port at 10.00 a.m., but her departure was delayed because she had to wait to embark passengers, crew and cargo from the liner Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for war service as a troop ship.
Six days out of New York on the afternoon of 7th May, and within sight of the coast of southern Ireland, the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20. At that time, she was only about 250 miles away from her Liverpool destination. All three members of the Sharp family survived the sinking of the ship, however, and after being rescued from the sea and landed at Queenstown; they eventually made it back to their home in Melbourne. George Sharp was aged 15 years at the time.
Once safely back in Britain, the family applied to The Lusitania Relief Fund for financial help because of their loss of property. Correspondence with the officers of the fund, which was administered by The Lord Mayor of Liverpool, was sent to them at 244, Belvedere Road, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire and this may well have been the family address.
Cunard records state that the family name was Sharpe, but all other records pertaining to the family spell their name as Sharp!
On leaving school, George became a fitter, and in April 1918, he enlisted in the 7th Bn.
Sherwood Foresters. By now, the family had moved to 11. Field Lane, Horninglow, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire. He was transferred to the Railway Construction Troops Depot as a signal fitter. Towards the end of hostilities, he was sent to France, but didn’t stay there long before returning to England. He was demobilised in November 1919.
In the summer of 1920, he married Gladys Selina Bottomley in Burton upon Avon, and the couple had three known children. After the war, he became a wheelwright, like his father.
He died in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, on the 1st July 1978, aged 78 years. His father had died in 1925, and his mother in 1934. His older brother, Harry, remained in Crooksville, Ohio, for the remainder of his life, dying there in 1963.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, 1939 Register, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, British Army WW1 Service Records 1914 – 1920, Derbyshire Advertiser and Journal, Derbyshire Daily Telegraph, Liverpool Record Office, Probate Records, PRO BT 100/345, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.