Military administrator.
Born at Ottawa, Ontario on 21 March 1896, the son of John Sharpe (1850-?) and Mary J. Sharpe (1855-?), he came to command the Ottawa Collegiate Cadets by the time of his 1916 enlistment in the First World War. He joined up with the Army Service Corps as Lientenant and was later transfered to 26th New Brunswick Battalion, seeing service at The Somme, Bully Grenay, and Vimy Ridge, the latter where he earned a Military Cross decoration for his actions on 9 April 1917 when he for single-handedly taking out a hostile machine gun crew. He went on to take part at Hill 70, Passchendaele, Amiens, then Bonn before returning to England with the end of hostilities, eventually returning home in May 1919.
He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and during the mid 1930s was sent to England as an exchange officer with the Royal Air Force (RAF), including time posted at RAF Station at Kidbrooke. By this time, he held the rank of Flight Lieutenant prior to being named Commanding Officer (1937-1940) of the Equipment Depot No. 7 in Winnipeg. He would eventually retire with the rank of Group Captain.
He was twice married, first to Willa (?-1946) with whom he had one daughter, Margaret Jane Sharpe. While in Winnipeg, he met Dr. Anna Elizabeth Brown Wilson (c1906-1997, step-daughter of Jane A. B. Wilson). The couple moved to Ottawa and there married on 7 July 1949. This second marriage yielded another daughter; Mary Anne Sharpe.
He died at his Ottawa residence, 2240 Alta Vista Drive, on 15 February 1967.
1901 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
Attestation papers, Canadian Expeditionary Force, Library and Archives Canada.
“Captain N.E. Sharpe, M.C., returned home today,” Ottawa Journal, 19 May 1919, page 4.
“Social and personal [Stationed in England],” Ottawa Journal, 27 July 1936, page 8.
“New Commanding Officer of R.C.A.F. here arrives Friday,” Winnipeg Tribune, 3 June 1937, page 3.
“New Air C.O.” Winnipeg Tribune, 11 June 1937, page 5.
“Impressive ceremony marks Rockcliffe Command exchange,” Ottawa Journal, 7 November 1942, page 3.
Obituary [Willa Sharpe], Ottawa Journal, 25 Mary 1946, page 9.
“Dr. Anna Wilson married to Norman E. Sharpe in Ottawa,” Winnipeg Tribune, 8 July 1949, page 12.
“Quiet ceremony is MacKay Church scene of Sharpe-Wilson nuptials,” Ottawa Journal, 8 July 1949, page 14.
“Faces of Ottawa: Dr. Anna Sharpe,” Ottawa Journal, 4 March 1961, page 16.
Obituary, Ottawa Journal, 15 February 1967, page 37.
“Not really retiring: she fights for children,” Ottawa Journal, 24 October 1968, page 36.
Obituary [Dr. Anna Elizabeth Wilson Sharpe], Winnipeg Free Press, 16 July 1997, page 37.
This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 25 December 2018
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