Richard Sharpe (fictional character)
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Template:SharpeSeries Richard Sharpe is the central character in the Bernard Cornwell Sharpe novels.
The stories chart his progress in the Napoleonic era British Army from a Private in Sharpe's Tiger to a field commission of Lieutenant Colonel in Sharpe's Waterloo. The stories have been dramatised for TV with Sean Bean playing the role of Sharpe.
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Early years
Richard Sharpe was born in Wapping to a prostitute mother and an unknown father, and grew up in a foundling home. After murdering a man at the age of thirteen, he escaped from London to Yorkshire, and joined the British Army to avoid the law. His regiment, the 33rd Foot, sometimes known as "the Havercakes" due to a havercake being engraved on the officers' swords (or from the habit of their recruiting sergeants of putting a cake on the end of their swords to attract starving would-be recruits) was posted to India under the command of the British East India Company to fight against the Mogul Empire. Sharpe was involved in the Battle of Assaye, the siege of Seringapatam, and is credited in the series with the regicide of the Tippoo Sultan.
India
In India he rose to the rank of Sergeant, and then, because of an act of bravery (saving Arthur Wellesley's life at the Battle of Assaye), was given a commission and joined the 74th Regiment as an ensign. This was a highly unusual event at this time, usually ending in the soldier resigning because the upper class commissioned officers would not accept them. Difficult though his position is - he is neither one of the men nor a true officer - he soldiers on, and further acts of bravery result in his being transferred to the newly formed 95th Rifles regiment.
Napoleonic Wars
Returning from India in 1805 Sharpe is caught up in the Battle of Trafalgar. This is his first encounter with France and her allies. This adventure also introduced him to Lady Grace Hale who he fell in love with. After her husband's death Grace and Sharpe set up home together but she died giving birth to his son. Sadly the son was still-born and was thus assumed to belong to Graces ex-husband. As such lawyers for the Lord's estate were able to take all Sharpe's money including the pile of jewels he took from the Tippoo sultan. His next adventure involves the Battle of Copenhagen and the British capture of the Danish fleet (to prevent Napoleon Bonaparte from taking it). After this Sharpe heads for Portugal, and the books chart his rise in rank as the British Army defeats the French in numerous battles across Portugal, Spain and France. Among his notable achievements during this period, in which he joins the South Essex Regiment, are his capture of a French Imperial Eagle at the Battle of Talavera de la Reina in 1809, storming one of the breaches at Badajoz and acting as Brigade Major at the Battle of Toulouse. The penultimate story recounts Sharpe's involvement in the Battle of Waterloo.
Final chapter
In the final story Sharpe is commissioned by the Countess of Mouromorto to travel to South America to find out what has happened to her husband (and Sharpe's old friend) Don Blas Vivar, who had disappeared while acting as Spanish Captain General in Chile. In this, as in many of the Sharpe stories, he is accompanied by his Sergeant (and friend) Patrick Harper. En route they stop to visit the imprisoned Napoleon Bonaparte on Saint Helena. In Chile he teams up with the historical character Lord Cochrane.
Family
Sharpe, being the son of a prostitute, has no knowledge of his parentage. However, in his numerous affairs, he has fathered several children. His first child is conceived aboard the HMS Pucelle, in Sharpe's Trafalgar, with Lady Grace Hale. Lady Grace dies in childbirth. His first wife is Teresa Moreno, by whom Sharpe fathers a daughter named Antonia, born in 1812. Antonia is brought up by her uncle Ramon after Teresa's death at the hands of Sharpe's nemesis Sergeant Hakeswill, and her future remains unknown. Sharpe's second wife, Jane Gibbons, had an adulterous affair with Lord John Rossendale, and ends up stealing his fortune gained at the Battle of Vitoria. During the peace following Napoleon's abdication, Sharpe meets Lucille Lassan, the widow of a deceased French cavalryman, and the pair have two children, Patrick-Henri in 1815 and Dominique in 1816. In 1861 when Patrick is a colonel in the Imperial Guard Cavalry observing the Union and then Confederate Armies during the Civil War, he tells Nathaniel Starbuck how his father wanted him to join the light infantry and his mother the French cavalry. In Copperhead (The Starbuck Chronicles, Book II) Patrick mentions his mother is "very lonely" so we can assume Richard has died by this time. Dominique has married an aristocrat and has had children.
The Sharpe Companion gives Sharpe's date of death as 1860 though this is never stated in any books.
The Sharpe books in chronological order
- Sharpe's Tiger: Richard Sharpe and the Siege of Seringapatam, 1799
- Sharpe's Triumph: Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Assaye, September 1803
- Sharpe's Fortress: Richard Sharpe and the Siege of Gawilghur, December 1803
- Sharpe's Trafalgar: Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Trafalgar, October 1805
- Sharpe's Prey: the Siege of Copenhagen 1807
- Sharpe's Rifles: Richard Sharpe and the French Invasion of Galicia, January 1809
- Sharpe's Havoc: Richard Sharpe and the campaign in northern Portugal, Spring 1809
- Sharpe's Eagle: Richard Sharpe and the Talavera Campaign, July 1809
- Sharpe's Gold: Richard Sharpe and the Destruction of Almeida, August 1810
- Sharpe's Escape: Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Busaco, 1810
- Sharpe's Battle: Richard Sharpe and the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro, May 1811
- Sharpe's Company: Richard Sharpe and the Siege of Badajoz, January to April 1812
- Sharpe's Sword: Richard Sharpe and the Salamanca Campaign, June and July 1812
- Sharpe's Skirmish Richard Sharpe and the defence of Tormes, august 1812
- Sharpe's Enemy: Richard Sharpe and the Defence of Portugal, Christmas 1812
- Sharpe's Honour: Richard Sharpe and the Vitoria Campaign, February to June 1813
- Sharpe's Regiment: Richard Sharpe and the Invasion of France, June to November, 1813
- Sharpe's Siege: Richard Sharpe and the Winter Campaign, 1814
- Sharpe's Revenge: Richard Sharpe and the Peace of 1814
- Sharpe's Waterloo: Richard Sharpe and the Waterloo Campaign, 15 June to 18 June 1815
- Sharpe's Devil: Richard Sharpe and the Emperor, 1820-21
- Sharpe's Christmas: Richard Sharpe after the war
See also