As the country paused to mark the centenary of the end of the first World War a local digger returned home in the form of his wedding photo which was taken shortly before he was killed in action 100 years ago.
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Henry William Sharrock, service no 3662 who is is remembered on the Gulgong war memorial, was the son of Thomas and Annie Sharrock of Home Rule, and sailed out of Sydney on HMAT Anchises A68 on January 24, 1917.
While on a social visit to Yorkshire with a friend he met Elsie and in early 1918 they were married. And even though Henry wouldn’t see the end of the war - dying on July 21, 1918 – his new wife was pregnant with Henry ‘Harry’ William Sharrock, who was born just six days after the signing of the Armistice.
This begun a British branch of the Sharrock family tree, with Harry’s children Gillian, Keith, Ian and Dandy growing up in Yorkshire. Without knowing his Australian ancestry Keith, now 67, moved to Brisbane in 1980.
“It was like that show ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ when a musician finds out they had an ancestor who was an artist, it’s something in them, I didn’t know about the Australian side of the family but was drawn to Australia,” he said.
His grandmother was still alive when he left and gave him the treasured wedding photo and told him about his roots. This prompted Keith to want to learn more about his grandfather and many years ago he did meet his brother in Sydney.
The UK Sharrock descendants met at his final resting place at Le Peuplier Military Cemetery in France on July 21 to mark the 100 year anniversary of his death. And Keith sent a copy of the photo to Gulgong RSL to add to their collection – unfortunately the circumstances were such that he couldn’t come to the local service as originally planned to present it in person. He is keen to learn more about any local Sharrocks and can be contacted on 0404 173 330.
