Days gone by

Tonight I helped to do some tidying up and furniture removal in my gran's house in preparation for her leaving hospital to return home on Thursday. She's looking forward to being at home again after a few weeks. Well done wee granny!

At the bottom of her wardrobe, I found a neat parcel, wrapped in brown paper and tied with string, containing a selection of old family photographs dating from the late 1890s to the 1930. One photograph shows her father in army uniform as he prepared to leave for war. We'd all seen some old photographs of her family, though not this particular selection.

My gran was the youngest of three children to John Sharp and Elizabeth Moyes of Fife. They met and married when he worked as a gardener in Ayrshire. They moved to the Fordell estate in Fife to maintain the grounds there and their first two children were born. As the First World War loomed, my great-grandpa remained in his work as a gardener; those who had responsibility for land duties and food production were asked to stay at home. As the battles intensified in the final two years of war, my great-grandpa was called up very late and joined the Royal Scots Fusilliers. He was sent to serve in the Balkans. He left behind his pregnant wife and two young children. My gran was born on 6th April 1917, whilst her father was at war.

My great grandpa, John Sharp, was killed in action on 19th September 1918, in one of the final battles of the first world war. He died at the battle of Pip Ridge, Salonika, in a frontal assault of a 2000ft high heavily defended mountain ridge. The strength of the Bulgarian enemy was entirely underestimated and the Scots, Welsh, Cheshires and Greek regiments suffered catastrophic losses.

He never got to meet his new daughter, Elizabeth, my gran, who was born the year before his death. The saddest part of this story is that his wife passed away at home from complications associated with a stomach ulcer approximately two days before he died at war. How strange that they both died at around the same time. Neither of them had to learn of the death of the other, which was of comfort to the family. However, family stories from the older children and one of her sisters tell that my great-grandmother was frequently inconsolable with angst during her husband's time at war. My gran and her siblings were orphaned and raised by their mum's sisters. Tragically, if the army had heard of his wife's death at home, my great-grandpa would have been immediately discharged and sent home to tend to his children. However, it tooks weeks to get messages to the front back then.

A year ago, we knew nothing about my great-grandfather's time at war, apart from his name and approximate year and place of death. We searched the Commonwealth war graves records to see if there was any information held on him and uncovered this wealth of history, very easily. We discovered that he has a war grave in Doiran Cemetery, on the border of Macedonia and Greece.

Perhaps one day we will go to visit? I really hope so.