Sharpe, Samuel Charles

2703 Private Samuel Charles Sharpe - 48th Battalion AIF

Samuel Charles Sharpe was born in Fremantle WA in 1894 to Samuel and Ellen Sharpe. He had two elder sisters, Ellen in 1887 and Matilda born in 1889.

The family lived at 50 Bay Street Fremantle and Sam was educated locally. After leaving school he took up work as a Cleaner. Sam had also seen militia service with the 86th Infantry.

On the 16th June 1915 Sam enlisted into the Australian Imperial Force. He was found to be fit for service with the medical examiner recording Sam's physical attributes as;

Height - 5 feet 8 & 1/2 inches tall;

Weight - 155lbs;

Chest Measurement - 35-37 inches;

Complexion - Fair;

Eyes - Brown;

Hair - Fair.

After his successful enlistment Sam was sent to Blackboy Hill training camp and he was assigned to the 8th Reinforcements to the 16th Battalion AIF. He trained with this group in WA for several weeks while they waited for their embarkation orders to arrive.

These orders finally came and on the 2nd September 1915 Sam and his group boarded the transport ship HMAT Anchises and set sail for Egypt. They arrived at Alexandria Egypt on the 26th September 1915 and were then disembarked and sent into the training camp.

On the 18th October 1915 Sam left Egypt and proceeded to Mudros Island and joined up with the 16th Battalion on the 23rd October 1915. The records are not clear if Sam served at Gallipoli or remained on Mudros Island.

However he was with the 16th Battalion when they returned to Egypt on the 30th December 1915. On his arrival in Egypt Sam was admitted to hospital suffering from jaundice. After a month in hospital Sam rejoined the 16th Battalion on the 3rd February 1916.

On the 3rd March 1916 Sam was transferred to the newly forming 48th Battalion. For the next three months he trained in the Egyptian desert with this unit. On the 2nd June 1916 the 48th Battalion embarked from Alexandria and proceeded to France, arriving at Marseilles on the 9th June 1916.

The 48th Battalion was then sent north to the region around Armentieres where they had their first experience of trench life on the Western Front. They only had a few weeks here before they were sent to the Somme battlefield. On July 1st 1916 the British and French forces had launched a massive assault on this front for limited gain. On July 23rd the 1st Australian Division captured Pozieres village. The 2nd Australian Division then furthered the gains already made and then the 4th Division, (to whom the 48th Bn belonged) went into the front and attempted to move the advance forward.

On the 6h August 1916 the 48th Battalion just came into the line when they were subjected to a German counter attack. The Germans met some initial success but were soon pushed back.

During the Germans initial advance they overwhelmed some isolated posts of the 48th Battalion and quite a few men were captured. The Australians including the 48th Battalion then went on the attack but during a bombing attack on the 8th August, Sam and a few men were surrounded and captured. Sam had suffered a leg wound from shrapnel shortly before capture. He would spend the rest of the war as a Prisoner of War.

It had initially been reported back home that Sam had been killed in action but fortunately news soon came through that he had been captured and was in a prison camp in Dulmen Germany.

When the war was over Sam was sent to England and on the 3rd March 1919 he boarded the transport ship Nevassa and set sail home for Australia, reaching Fremantle on the 20th April 1919.

Sam was discharged from the AIF on the 16th June 1919.

In 1922 Samuel married Ada Gertrude Standen. They had a daughter called Mavis born in 1923 and they lived at 7 Hevron Street North Fremantle. Sam was a locomotive fireman for the railways and in the 1930's this work took him to Northam and Moora.

Samuel Charles Sharpe died in Attadale WA on the 2nd August 1967 aged 73. He was cremated at Fremantle Cemetery.