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The Bulletin of the Birmingham Branch of the WFA Compiled by Bob Butcher |
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November 2008 |
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A Sharp Character By J.P. Lethbridge Annie Sophia Sharp was seventy three in February 1918. She was a Bond Street, West End of London, manicurist, masseur, crystal ball gazer and fortune teller. She shared her 90 Ports-down Road, Maida Vale, Northwest London home with a Mrs Grace Gould and Mrs Gould's three children. On 19th February 1918 Sharp booked six rooms in advance at Mrs Rebecca Lark's 3 Windsor Villas, Plymouth, boarding house, for herself, an alleged wealthy Thailand resident Mrs Langley and her sister, an unnamed bishop, a grandson who had lost a leg in the war, and others. The rent per room was to be one pound one shilling i.e. a guinea a week. In return for making this potentially lucrative booking Lark let Sharp have food and board on credit for two guineas a week. None of the other guests that Sharp had booked turned up and Lark became suspicious despite Sharp's stories such as that Langley had put three thousand pounds in the bank that could not be touched until 15th April. On 8th March 1918 Sharp left without paying her bill saying that she was going to London but instead went to Brighton. The police traced her and brought her back to Plymouth. On Saturday 30th March 1918 a Plymouth magistrate charged her with deception and remanded her in custody. She was tried at Plymouth Magistrates' Court on Wednesday 3rd April 1918. The first prosecution witness the Plymouth Chief Constable Mr Sanders alleged that Sharp was both a fortune teller and a procurer who tricked girls into prostitution. Her friend Gould was a fraudster specialising in fake charity appeals. Another friend a solicitor had been tried alongside a naval Lieutenant at the Old Bailey for Admiralty frauds and fined fifty thousand pounds. Sharp also allegedly had many German friends. In February 1917 she had been convicted of fortune telling and harbouring a German Dorothea Ludolph. For this crime Sharp had got two concurrent terms of three months hard labour and Ludolph three months hard labour and a deportation order.
Rebecca Lark described how she had been conned. Detective Sergeant William Cloke told how he had arrested Sharp and said that she had given him a telegram reading "Letter received too late. Regret trouble. Interceding Home Secretary. All right here - Grace." Grace was the prisoner's friend Gould, and no communication from the Home Secretary about the case had yet been received. Evidently Gould was trying to suggest that Sharp had influential friends. A Brighton Police representative asked the Plymouth magistrates to take into account that Sharp had also obtained food and board by deception in Brighton. The Plymouth magistrates refused to do this but sentenced Annie Sharp to the maximum term available six months hard labour. If Sharp was just a cadger who liked free holidays she was very harshly treated given her age. If all the implied allegations against her were true she got off very lightly. TINS THAT SAVE LIFE – Part 2 Princess Mary’s Chocolate Box – Alan Tucker Private A Johnson, 1st Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, has been wounded in the fighting at St Julien, near Ypres, and is now in hospital in Lancashire. Johnson is a reservist and lived at 54 Court, 3 house, Brearley St, Hockley, Birmingham and was a polisher at Britten's, Theodore St, before the war. His life was saved by one of Princess Mary's metal chocolate boxes which was in his breast pocket and which deflected the bullet downwards so that it passed through his thigh. (Birmingham Weekly Post May 22 1915) Note: although the newspaper headlined their story with `chocolate box' the original Christmas gift of 1914 from Princess Mary, daughter of King George V, on behalf the nation mainly contained tobacco and cigarettes.
Artists rifles By Dougie West
The Artists rrifles came into existence in 1859 when the formation of volunteer corps had been approved. The then Conservative Government approved the formation of the Volunteer movement as a safeguard against a French invasion. Among the first members were such distinguished names as G.F. Watts, Lord Leighton, Holman Hunt, JE Millais and William Morris. As normal the 38th Middlsex (Artists) Rifle Volunteers designed their own uniform and cap badge. On the first day of enrolment, 10th May 1860 119 men were attested and eventually paraded. Their badge was a depiction of Mars and Minerva, designed by Private J.W.Lyon, engraver to the signet. Although the invasion scare was soon forgotten, the volunteer movement remained strong.
Boer War Volunteers were raised in London and the City Imperial Volunteers included 58 volunteers form the Artists. Individual Artists went off and joined other Yeomanry units to which they had regional affiliations.
The Great War The regiment was mobilised on 3rd August 1914 and by the end of the war 15,022 men had been members of the Artists. The unit was then a London Territorial unit and was known as 1/28th (County of London) Bn. London Regiment (Artists Rifles) located in Dukes Road, Euston and a total of 621 all ranks mobilised. The 1/28th landed in France on 28 October 1914 one of the first territorial units to do so. They were initially stationed at Bailleul and later became an officers training unit. Within a few months 1000 ex Artists had been gazetted into every infantry regiment. In June 1917 however they became operational again and joined the 109th Bde. in the 63rd (RN) Divn which it served in until the end of the war. The 2/28th was formed in August 1914 but in November 1915 merged with 1/28th. The 3/28th raised in January 1915, then became the 2/28th and later the 15th Officer Cadet Battalion based in Romford. No fewer than 10,256 officers were commissioned through the ranks of the Artists Rifles. They went to all infantry regiments and to most of the other arms including the Royal Artillery. The war memorial to the 28th contains 2,003 names. They had won 8 VC’s, 56 DSO’s, 891 MC’s, 20 DFC’s, 15 AFC’s, 6 DCM’s, 15 MM’s and 14 MSM’s in addition 564 were Mentioned in Despatches The CD Rom of soldiers died gives details of 19 officers and 357 other ranks for the 28th (County of London) Battalion (Artists Rifles) A check on the details in the CD Rom shows the widespread recruitment of those who died: 56 from Australia 114 from USA 147 from Dudley 200 from Handsworth
Of the 15,022 men who passed through the regiment, 10,256 had been commissioned, 2,003 had been killed, 3,250 had been wounded, 256 missing presumed killed and 286 had been taken as prisoners of war. On cessation of hostilities few wished to remain or to join the Territorials and the Artists although still in existence were dormant. It was not until 1921 that the Artists began to be resurrected and the new battalion was reformed. World War Two War was declared on 3rd September 1939 and two days later the Artists moved from their Dukes Road TA Centre to St Mary’s Bay near Dymchurch and the War Office made the Artists into an Officer Cadet Training Unit and the unit provided officers for all units including the RAF. It did not serve in combat as a formed unit. In 1945 in the general demobilisation the Artists Rifles disappeared like many other units. In the November of 1946 the War Office came to the conclusion that there was a place for the Territorial Army and it would be reconstituted on 1st January 1947 As part of a War Office enquiry into the use of Special Air Service troops in the Second World War it was decided that the vast experience could not be wasted and although the formation of a regular unit could not be made due to prevailing conditions it was decided to form a Territorial Unit. This was the Artists who became 21 SAS Recruiting started in September 1947 and recruits flowed in. Many had previous experience in other services, but all had to serve in the ranks irrespective of previous experience. In 1950 the Malayan Scouts were formed and a detachment from 21 SAS (Artists) joined the Scouts In 1952 22 SAS was created from the Malayan Scouts In 1959 23 SAS was established In 1987 the UK Special Forces Group was set up
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