Ten men, ten stories, one regiment

To mark Lincolnshire Day, Matt Limb OBE looks back at the Lincolnshire Regiment and the servicemen awarded the Victoria Cross within its ranks.

For more than two and a half centuries, the Lincolnshire Regiment, so often known simply as The Lincolns, and its predecessors served its country with distinction.

From its origins in the 17th century to its amalgamation and disappearance in the 20th, the regiment forged a proud identity, grounded in loyalty, discipline and a deep connection to the county. Its soldiers fought in far-flung corners of the Empire, in two World Wars and in the unforgiving terrain of an ever-changing battlefield.

On this Lincolnshire Day, 1st October, as the county celebrates its heritage, it is worth remembering one of the great county regiments and some of the extraordinary men who wore its cap badge.

Over its long history, ten members of The Lincolns received the highest award for gallantry, the Victoria Cross. These ten men came from different backgrounds and faced different challenges, yet each demonstrated courage, determination and selflessness under fire.

Rich history
The Lincolnshire Regiment began life in 1685 as the Earl of Bath’s Regiment; its first colonel was John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath. After the Monmouth Rebellion or the threat of it, most of the regiments raised by the king were disbanded; some lasted a matter of months, but the Earl of Bath’s Regiment survived and was not disbanded. 

In the early 18th century, during the War of the Spanish Succession, the regiment fought at Blenheim then at Malplaquet in 1709, after this spending almost 50 years on garrison duties.

Following the reforms of 1751, when British regiments were identified by numbers rather than by their colonel’s name, it became the 10th Regiment of Foot, reflecting its position in the line infantry order of precedence.

The 10th Regiment of Foot continued to play a significant role in many of Britain’s colonial conflicts, including the American War of Independence. Then in 1782, further reforms brought more change; regiments now added county titles to aid recruitment, hence the 10th (North Lincolnshire) Regiment of Foot, a name it would carry for the next century. This landmark change marked the first formal association with the county, a bond that soon strengthened, as the regiment adopted ‘The Lincolnshire Poacher’ as the regimental march and acquired the enduring nickname, The Poachers.

In 1800, the regiment sailed for Egypt, serving during the Napoleonic Wars and taking part in the Battle of Alexandria. Here they were granted the battle honour, which, with time, resulted in the Sphinx and Egypt on their cap badge.

Victoria Crosses
After raising a second battalion, the regiment strengthened its reputation further during the Indian Mutiny. It was at this time in 1857 that the regiment was to receive the first of its ten Victoria Crosses, awarded to Private John Kirk for the heroic rescue of an officer, along with his family, cut off and surrounded by rebels attempting to burn down his house. Before the mutiny was over in 1859, a further two Victoria Crosses would be awarded among the regiment’s soldiers and officers.

Instituted in 1856 by Queen Victoria, the Victoria Cross is awarded for ‘most conspicuous bravery, or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self-sacrifice, or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy’.

It is not given lightly. Each award is a story in its own right, all involving exceptional courage. Many are awarded posthumously, a reminder that the highest award often carries the highest price.

Further association with the county came in 1881, under the Childers Reforms, when the 10th Regiment of Foot became The Lincolnshire Regiment. Now the regiment drew many of its recruits from the towns and villages of the county, with recruiting sergeants persuading young men to “take the King’s shilling” and join their local regiment.

This deepened the connection between The Lincolns and the communities they represented, as generations of families started sending sons to serve in their county regiment.

Almost 60 years would pass after the Indian Mutiny before the Lincolnshire Regiment was awarded another Victoria Cross. That award came in a new century and during a new kind of warfare, in the mud and trenches of The Great War.

Here Charles Sharpe’s bravery would be recognised with the regiment’s first Victoria Cross of World War I. He would be the first of five Lincolnshire Regiment recipients of the Victoria Cross before the war was over.

Born in 1889 in a small village near Sleaford, Charles Sharpe was one of fifteen children. Following school he worked with his father on the land, but aged just sixteen ran away from home and joined The Lincolns. At the outbreak of the war he was in Bermuda, but would soon witness the horror of the trenches, arriving in France in November 1914.

Six months later, the recently promoted Corporal Sharpe was in the thick of it at the Battle of Aubers Ridge, where he led a bombing party in a trench attack, clearing 50 yards of enemy trench. Then, helped by four colleagues, captured a further 250 yards of enemy trenches.

His relentless assault demoralised the enemy and possibly saved his battalion from being cut off. His action that day was recognised with the Victoria Cross, presented to him by King George V at Windsor Castle on 24th July 1915.

Charles Sharpe VC survived his action at Aubers Ridge and survived the war; he lived to an old age, but in many ways he was one of the most unlikely war heroes.

A modest farm worker, deeply proud of his Lincolnshire roots. He lived quietly, known to family and friends for his gentle nature and dry humour; his bravery remained something he rarely discussed.

This humility was never more evident than in an interview shortly after receiving the award. When asked to recount his actions, he simply replied: “A British soldier will never glorify his own deeds – I only did my duty.”

Acts of courage
One of the most remarkable men serving with the Lincolnshire Regiment was Reverend Theodore Hardy. Born into a modest family in 1863, Hardy lived a simple life as a schoolteacher before being ordained into the Church of England. When World War I broke out he was already in his fifties, far too old for joining up, but he never stopped applying. Finally, in 1916 he was accepted to serve as an Army Chaplain.

Assigned to the 8th Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment in France, Hardy quickly became a familiar and comforting presence in the trenches. He refused the safety of the rear area, choosing to share the dangers of No Man’s Land.

Whether it was bringing tea to a dugout under fire, helping to carry the wounded back through deep mud, or offering words of comfort to the injured, he was always there quietly, selflessly, and without thought for his own safety. He soon adopted a cheerful greeting of “It’s only me,” which never failed to raise a smile.

Hardy’s acts of courage were never grand gestures; they were small, repeated acts of devotion to the men he served, carried out day after day, under fire often, out in No Man’s Land. Yet the vast number of such acts was extraordinary. Over the course of little more than a year, he was awarded the Military Cross, the Distinguished Service Order and the Victoria Cross.

For the soldiers in the Lincolnshire Regiment, Hardy was more than a padre; he was a friend, a father figure, someone who never judged and, in their eyes, one of their own.

Sadly, Hardy did not survive the war. On 10th October 1918 he was moving forward to help the wounded when he was hit by a burst of enemy machine-gun fire. First attended by the regiment’s stretcher bearers, he spoke quietly saying “I’ve been hit. I’m sorry to be a nuisance.” Hardy died on 18th October 1918, just two days before his 55th birthday and three weeks before the war was over.

Unsettled world
The end of the war did not mean the end of the Lincolnshire Regiment. In the years that followed, the regiment was posted to new duties in an unsettled world.

These years of inter-war service, though far from the scale of the Great War, honed the regiment’s adaptability and resilience, qualities that would be tested again with the outbreak of World War II in September 1939. That conflict would claim as many as 70 million lives, and would see two more Victoria Crosses awarded to The Lincolns.

One of those awards sits with special pride in the regiment’s history: Captain John Brunt was the last man of the Lincolnshire Regiment to be awarded the Victoria Cross, he was also the youngest. Born in 1922, Brunt’s energy and daring were apparent from an early age; such qualities would mark his brief but extraordinary life and military career.

He first saw action in North Africa, then Italy where his courage and initiative quickly earned him the Military Cross for outstanding leadership during a daring raid. His war, however, was far from over. Brunt distinguished himself again, just weeks later, during the bitter fighting in the winter of 1944.

It was for his actions while leading his men in a series of fierce engagements in December 1944 that Brunt was awarded the Victoria Cross. Tragically, he was killed the very next day, aged just 22, unaware of the award. His bravery left a lasting impression on those who served with him, and his name remains an enduring part of the regiment’s proud legacy.

End of an era
The history of the Lincolnshire Regiment came to a close in 1960, when it was amalgamated with the Northamptonshire Regiment, which in turn became part of the newly formed Royal Anglian Regiment in 1964, as the British Army once again reshaped itself.

Though the name of the Lincolnshire Regiment has disappeared from the order of battle, its spirit and traditions live on within the Royal Anglian Regiment. The regiment’s battle honours are still proudly remembered, as are the deeds of the men who wore its cap badge.

On this Lincolnshire Day, let us reflect that while The Lincolns have passed into history and no longer march with their colours flying, their legacy endures; courage, service and sacrifice stitched deep into the county’s very identity. And there at its heart sit the regiment’s ten men awarded our highest accolade, the Victoria Cross – Ten Men, Ten Stories, One Regiment.

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