Sharp-Healy Family

The Story of the first two Generations

Links:

Generation 1 - Children of John and Theodosia

Generation 1 - Children of John and Isabella

Generation 2 - Children of John Bentley Sharp

Alice Theodosia Sharp 1867-1919

Alice Theodosia Sharp was born on Tuesday 11 June 1867 at Blackheath, the 2nd child and first daughter of John Edwin Sharp and Theodosia Emma Hann. She was named after her mother Theodosia.

Alice was baptised on Wednesday 3 July 1867, and was recorded as residing at Elliot Place, Blackheath. Her father's occupation was noted as Warehouseman.

In the 1871 Census, Alice was listed with her family:

  1. John Sharp, Commission agent, aged 28 years, born City Road, London
  2. Theodosia Sharp, his wife, aged 26 years, born New Cross, Kent
  3. Ernest J Sharp, son, aged 5 years, born Blackheath
  4. Alice T Sharp, daughter, aged 3 years, born Blackheath
  5. Bertram Sharp, son, aged 1 year, born Lee
  6. Arthur Sharp, son, aged 9 months, born Lee
  7. along with two servants. The family was living at 3 Dartmouth Villas, Lewisham.

Marriage

In 1891, Alice married a Percy Joseph Leech. The marriage was registered in the District of Croydon between July and September 1891. There were two children from the marriage:

  1. Gladys Muriel Leech, whose birth was registered in the September Quarter of 1892
  2. John Harold Leech, whose birth was registered in the December Quarter of 1901

Both children were born in Croydon.

In the 1901 Census, Alice is listed along with her husband Percy Leech, aged 37, whose occupation was a Traveller in the Rope Trade. Alice was 33, and her daughter Gladys was listed as being 8 years of age. Baby John was not reported in the Census because the date of the 1901 census was the night of 31 March 1901 and he was born later in the year.

Unfortunately Percy died early in 1907 aged 43 years, in Croydon. The cause of his death is not known.

Remarriage

In 1909, Alice remarried. Her new husband was another Percy - Percy Edward Hamner Woolf, who was born in 1854 in East Grinstead. The marriage was registered in the June Quarter of 1909 in Croydon.

The banns for the marriage show that Percy originally married on 26 February 1882 at St Matthews Church, in the parish of Brixton, County Surrey, to an Adeline Elizabeth Walker. He was 28, a bachelor, and she was a spinster aged 25 years. His occupation was a Clerk.

Together they had three children:

  1. Maude Adeline, 1884-?
  2. Hubert Percy, born 1885-1938
  3. Graham, born 1886-1894

However on 18 April 1893 Percy Woolf filed for divorce.

1911 Census

The 1911 Census reported the family as being:

  1. Percy Woolf, aged 56
  2. Alice, aged 42
  3. And her two children, Gladys Muriel Leech, now aged 18 years, and John Harold Leech, aged 9.

Percy Woolf was recorded as being a Secretary, his employer being the Nova Scotia Government. He was listed as being born in West Hoathly, Sussex.

Percy was noted in the Electoral Register in 1918, along with Alice, as residing in Lavender Vale.

Death

Alice died in 1919, aged 52 years. Her death was recorded in the December Quarter, in Epsom, Surrey, not far from Croydon. Her cause of death and burial details are not known but it is believed she was buried at Epsom.

Percy leaves the UK

Death Notice 1: Percy Woolf.

In 1921, two years after Alice's death. Percy was noted on the Shipping Register for the SS Runic II, a White Star Line ship, as leaving Liverpool bound for Australia and New Zealand, on 4 March. He was 65 years of age, and his occupation was noted as being a Secretary.

It is not known exactly what date Percy arrived in New Zealand, but the New Zealand Births Deaths and Marriages register noted that he died in 1933. A search of PapersPast revealed the following two death notices:

Death Notice 2: Percy Woolf.

Percy died on Wednesday 19 July 1933 at Te Kuiti, aged 79 years. His funeral and burial took place at Waikumete in Auckland, where he is buried in the Non Conformist Division D, Row 17, Plot 5. He was noted as being an Insurance Agent and was buried the next day on 20 July 1933.

Burial notice: Percy Woolf.

Hubert Percy Woolf

A listing in the New Zealand Death Register also shows the death of a Hubert Percy Woolf, aged 50, in 1938. Also a Cenotaph listing for a Hubert Percy Woolf shows that he enlisted in the NZ Expeditionary Force, 40th Reinforcements, E Company, on 10 July 1918, bound for England. At that time his father was listed as P E Woolf of London.

Could this be Percy's son Hubert? When did he come to New Zealand? And could this be the reason Percy left England for New Zealand in 1921 after the death of his wife Alice. Maybe he came out to New Zealand to live with his son after the war.

HMNZT Tahiti

HMNZT Tahiti left New Zealand on 10 July 1918, and, after stops in Australia and South Africa, joined a military convoy in Freetown, Sierra Leone, in western Africa. This voyage was among the last to supply new New Zealand reinforcements to Europe during WWI. They arrived at Plymouth on 10 September 1918. The war ended on 11 November 1918.

Unfortunately the Tahiti suffered an outbreak of influenza while en route to England, and of the 1,117 members of the 40th Reinforcements on board, more than 90% were sickened by the pandemic influenza strain, and 77 died. This caused one of the highest mortality rates from any cause among New Zealand military units. You can read the full story on the Centre for Disease Control and Infection website, including a soldier's diary. It is not known if Hubert Woolf was affected, and his military records have not been requested although they are available on Archway Ref R22022234. [Ref: Summers JA. Pandemic influenza outbreak on troop ship-diary of a soldier in 1918. Emerg Infect Dis [Internet]. 2012 Nov [date cited].]

Gladys Muriel Leech

No information is known about Gladys, except that one person with that name died in Kings Lyn, Norfolk in 1968 with roughly the correct birth details. No marriage or death details have yet been found.

Other References

Links to online resources:

Links to scanned pdf documents:

Thanks

Information and files on this page relating to England was provided by Stephen Fogden of the UK. Other information is sourced from New Zealand records.