FRENCH RESISTANCE HERO FROM DOVER
William
Sharp was born in Chapel Lane, Dover, in 1893. He was one of the
eight children - five boys (Albert, William, Fred, Sydney,
Steven) and three girls - of Albert, a Dover
Harbour Board tug mate, and Alice Sharp. The family later moved
to Albany Place, and William attended St Mary's school before
becoming an apprentice pastry cook at Igglesden and Graves, in
the Market Square. He had also worked at Mills the baker's, at
Snargate Street.
When he was 17 he joined the army, and with the 4th battalion of
the Rifle Brigade went to India. During the Great War he fought
at Ypres,
where his brother
Edward Sydney
Sharp was lost. William
survived, and worked on a
barge between Richborough and Calais,
bringing home war surplus stores.
In Calais he met Germaine Delaplace, and they married in 1919.
Their first daughter Doris (below left), was born in 1921. For a while the
family lived in Dover, but then they went to Calais, where they
ran a cafe. In 1936 William became a naturalised Frenchman, and
when war broke out he became part of the Resistance, sabotaging
rocket installations and passing on messages.
But he was betrayed and in 1942 the Gestapo broke into his cafe
and arrested him. Determined to extract details of the Calais
resistance, they beat him and kicked his face. He refused to
give information, and also used only French; thus his English
identity was concealed during his imprisonment. Then,
aged 50, he was
dragged out into the street with four comrades -
Pierre, Marcel, Henri, and Alphonse. Together, defiant to the
end, they sang "La Marseillaise" as they were shot.
After the liberation his body was exhumed and taken back to
Calais to be buried with full military honours. St Mary's Old
Boys used
to visit his grave. In 1963 a road in Calais was named in his
honour, and in 1994/5, along with other members of the
Resistance, he was posthumously awarded a medal.
The words on William Sharp's gravestone read:
William Sharp, Shot at Bondues, Nord, on 27 August 1943 at the
age of 50 years
Information kindly supplied by
Terry Sutton and Kathleen and Bob Hollingsbee
Grave picture by courtesy of Dave Dixon
above, daughter Doris with Fred, William's brother, standing by
the "Rue William Sharp" sign, courtesy Daniel Collard
Post Script - In August
2014 one option in a poll created by the Dover Express for the
naming of a new Dover hospital was "The William
Sharp Hospital".
