Nicknamed 'Sweet William' by his men, Frederickson has suffered a serious facial wound which has destroyed his left eye, broken his jaw, knocked out several teeth, and caused nerve damage giving him an uncontrollable and permanently smug look.
In the novel, he is described as "overweight, with fleshy lips" and "petulant", whereas in the TV series he is reasonably fit and, although "not exactly top-drawer" (probably meaning that he's not an upper-echelon aristocrat but actually upper-middle class or even possibly a bastard son) far more worldly than his friend Gibbons, a far better gambler and far less scrupulous in getting what he wants.
Only the timely intervention of Richard Sharpe and his fellow Peninsula veteran, Major Peter d'Alembord saves the regiment from the twin threats of the incompetent command of the Prince of Orange and an attack by Napoleon's Imperial Guard.
Some 10 years later Girdwood was recruited by Sir Henry Simmerson, whom he had taken his reprimand to, and Lord Simon Fenner, who promoted him to Major, and then to Lieutenant Colonel and appointed him to command Second Battalion of the South Essex Regiment, a cover for an extensive financial fraud and crimping scheme.
When McCandless, who acts as an exploring officer for the company, is captured by the forces of the Tipoo Sultan, Lawford is tasked with his rescue and chooses Sharpe to accompany him, thus saving the latter from execution by flogging.
General Wellesley dispatches the South Essex, alongside Sharpe's Riflemen and the engineers of Major Hogan, to blow up the bridge at Valdelacasa, so as to protect the army's flank as they march.
He was born in Portsmouth, the son of a ship builder, but gambling debts and unwanted pregnancies with local women made his father sent him to the army, purchasing an Ensign's commission, and four years later, paid £550 to promote him to Lieutenant.
At the end of the novel, when the South Essex is positioned on the British flank during the Battle of Talavera, Simmerson panics and starts to withdraw the regiment, before he is ignominiously relieved from his post by William Lawford.
Simmerson takes a licentious interest in "Lass" (Emily Mortimer), a novice nun under Sharpe's protection, rendered mute by the trauma of watching her sisters tortured for information by a French spy.
In the television movie of the same name, but of a wildly divergent plot, it was a private Skillicorn who had the chicken, and things played out exactly the same - save that Ayers re-arrested the rifleman after the incident was over, and apparently hanged him.
While Sharpe and his forces try to take the Teste de Buch fortress guarding the mouth of the Bassin d'Arcachon, Bampfylde is tasked with capturing three dozen chasee-marées to be used as a boat bridge for crossing the Adour River, and stirring up a monarchist rebellion.
Upon arrival at the Teste de Buch, Bampfylde changes strategy, instead using the Royal Marines under his command to attack the fortress, while Sharpe's men ambush a military convoy on the south road.
The loyalist Comte de Maquerre (secretly an agent of Major Pierre Ducos) met with Bampfylde during this time, and claimed Sharpe and the Royal Marines were defeated and captured in battle with a larger French brigade.
Chase is not a supporter of harsh discipline and dislikes flogging, though he does employ it when necessary and he is apt to reward his men generously, once giving oarsmen a double tot of rum after a stiff bout of towing in becalmed waters.
Dodd is charged by the mercenary commander of the Mahratta army, Anthony Pohlmann, with raiding the British fort at Chasalgoan, where he massacres the entire garrison, with the single exception of Richard Sharpe.
When she hears Sharpe has been arrested on suspicion of theft, she initially tries to help him but when it appears he has murdered Commandant Lassan, a man who might have given evidence against him, she sees it as license to begin an affair with Lord John Rossendale.
Rossendale is initially an ally in Major Sharpe's attempts to find missing recruits to the South Essex Regiment, providing support and guidance through the social pitfalls of Court circles.
Later in 1861, Patrick-Henri Lassan, by then a lieutenant-colonel in the French Cavalry and liaison to the Union Army during the US Civil War in Cornwell's Starbuck Chronicles reported that Lucille was still alive and well but lonely – implying that by this time Sharpe is dead.
Until he first met Sharpe his schemes were largely successful and he is well regarded by his Imperial Master who entrusted him with matters of great importance, posting him to Spain to resolve what Napoleon described as the "Spanish Ulcer".
Working with Major Pierre Ducos and Spanish agent Doña Juanita de Elia, Loup becomes part of a plot to destroy the British and Portuguese forces along the Spanish-Portuguese border and allow Marshal André Masséna to march into Portugal.
Lossow's squadron - accompanied by Sharpe, Harper, and Major Hogan - would then take part in the Battle of García Hernández, breaking through the French squares in pursuit of Colonel Leroux.
This, in addition to the earlier rape and murder of her mother by the French, fuels her desire for revenge and led to her becoming a leader of a guerrilla force, with the nom de guerre "La Aguja", or "The Needle", after the stiletto knife which is her weapon of choice.
Dressed in gray and riding a black horse, he gained the nickname "El Católico" ("The Catholic") due to his practice of reciting the Latin prayer for the dead over his victims before torturing them to death.
In Sharpe's Honour, El Matarife and his brother Father Tomas Hacha are employed by Major Pierre Ducos in his plot to engineer a Franco-Spanish alliance and push the British out of Spain.
When Sharpe discovers that a substantial French force is approaching the village, he blackmails Farthingdale into resigning command, by threatening to reveal the nature of the fake marriage and LaCosta's former profession.
Mary leaves with Sharpe and William Lawford on their mission to Seringapatam to act as a translator and to escape from Captain Morris and Sergeant Hakeswill who plotted to kidnap her and sell her as a forced prostitute.
Kiely's mistress, Doña Juanita de Elia (a French agent working for Major Pierre Ducos), circulates counterfeit American newspapers amongst the Irish, prompting them to desert.
While transporting a cargo of French cannon for the United States Army during the War of 1812, Thuella was attacked by a British frigate, and was forced to seek refuge in the Bassin d'Arcachon, under the guns of the Teste de Buche fort.
In exchange for supplies for repairs, Killick came under the employ of the French Intelligence Officer Major Pierre Ducos, spying on British activities further south at St Jean de Luz.
However, a ruse by Major Richard Sharpe took the Teste de Buche by surprise, and a company of the 60th Rifles under command of Captain William Frederickson forced Killick and his men to surrender.