Sharp, DE

Trooper Douglas Eldridge Sharp

Douglas was born on October 26th 1896, the only surviving son of civil servant Frederick Sharp and his wife, Ellen, who were originally from Leicestershire. He came to the College in January 1910, having previously been at the Prep, and was a pupil for almost three and a half years. After leaving in April 1913 he began working as an insurance broker, first with Willis Faber & Co. for a short time before joining the Northern Assurance Co. In early 1914 he joined up as a territorial member of the Westminster Dragoons where he was soon acknowledged as a particularly strong horseman.
When war broke out that summer Douglas was called up along with the rest of his regiment and a month later they were sent to Egypt. Although he was only 18, and therefore should have been too young to serve abroad, he received special dispensation from his parents to do so. After a year or so in Egypt the regiment was sent to Gallipoli in the summer of 1915 where they were involved in heavy fighting around Suvla Bay until withdrawing to Egypt shortly before the evacuation that December. Soon afterwards he was sent into the Western Desert where he was involved in heavy fighting with the Senussi tribes, before subsequently being attached to the Imperial Camel Corps, with whom his duties mostly consisted of desert patrols. Whilst on patrol that September he fell seriously ill with fever, passing away on September 15th at Gharak, near Fayoum.