Charles Sharpe was a farmer's boy from Pickworth,[1] near Bourne, Lincolnshire, who ran away from home to join the army at the age of sixteen.

[3][2] He was an acting corporal in the 2nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment,[4] British Army and 26 years old when the following deed took place during the Battle of Aubers Ridge in First World War for which he was awarded the VC.

[3][2] On return to civilian life, he worked at a number of jobs, notably as a physical training instructor to boys at the Hereward Camp approved school at Bourne.

In World War II a number of bombs were dropped on the approved school, a row of wooden huts adjacent to Bourne Woods that may have been mistaken for a military camp; Sharpe was injured.

[citation needed] While staying in Workington with his daughter, Mrs Dorothy Foster, Sharpe died on 18 February 1963 of cerebral thrombosis after suffering a fall four days earlier and fracturing several of his ribs.