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This is Percival Maurice Sharp, b. 1894 at Thame. Commissioned into the Royal Fusiliers on 4 September 1914. (LG 2 Feb 1915). He survived the Great War and was recalled to the Colours as a Captain (98412) on 11 September 1939, (LG 17 Oct 1939).//

In the National Archives series WO 372 there is a Medal Index Card list for a Percival Maurice Sharp of the Royal Fusiiers, initially a Lieutenant at the time he entered a Theatre of War and subsequently a Captain. In September 1939 a Captain Percival Maurice Sharp, late Royal Fusiliers, was appointed to the Royal Army Pay Corps. www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/34712/supplements/7026/pa... The birth of a Percival Maurice Sharp was recorded in the January to March 1894 quarter in the Thame District, (on the Oxfordshire \ Buckinghamshire border). This was the only Percival M listed. On the 1901 census, the 7 year old Percival M, born Thame, Oxon was recorded at 38/40 London Road, St Giles, Reading. This appears to have been a small boarding school of which his father, Benjamin, (aged 48 and from Warrington, Lancashire), seems to have been the Schoolmaster. Percival's mother is an Alice M. Sharp, (aged 43 and from Staplehurst, Kent). Their other children are:- Francis E..........aged 10........born Howarden, Flint Helem M............aged 5..........born Thame, Oxon Percival doesn't appear to be on the 1911 census. 10th Battalion had a parallel unit which was actually a cover for a counter-espionage organisation, at first active in France and based around a core of Scotland Yard detectives who had experience in liaising with their counterparts on the continent, but which eventually grew to cover most of the Theatres of War. While I believe Percival probably served in the more conventional unit, it is intriguing that he served in the Pay Corps in WW2, which in its turn was one of a number of units used as cover for other, more secretive units. Percival's promotion from Temporary Lieutenant to Temporary Captain in the Royal Fusiliers, with effect from 25th December 1915, was gazetted on the 17th March 1916. www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/29513/supplements/3031 The marriage of a Percival M Sharp to a Violet A Wood took place in the Paddington district of London in the April to June 1923 quarter. (This may not be the same individual). The death of a Percival Maurice Sharp,who had been born on the 8th January 1894, was recorded in the Maidstone District of Kent in the July to September 1978 quarter.

excellent shot

The trail of P M Sharp through the London Gazette would tend to confirm an unconventional war. He was certainly seconded from the Royal Fusiliers for employment on intelligence duties (specified in the LG 8 Aug 19); and he is elsewhere referred to as a Staff Officer in a Command and Staff Class GG Special Appointment (LG 17 Oct 1919 and LG 24 Oct 1919). The GG abbreviation appears to be a pay grade differentiation, however such intelligencve officers were employed widely, not just in France and Belgium, but on intelligence work from Ireland to Egypt. On 25 Dec 1915 he was apparently posted to the 'Training Reserve' as a Temporary Captain and Adjutant. Captain P M Sharp relinquished his commission on 11 Nov 1919 on completion of his service, (LG 20 Jan 1920).//

Apologies - should have refreshed before I hit the post comment button ! I have only seen a few extract random extracts from the 10th Royal Fusiliers War Diary on-line but I was intrigued as I couldn't find reference to him as a Company Commander, hence the supposition that he might possibly have been in the other unit. Thanks for the confirmation - (note to self, need to work on those London Gazette search criterias :-)

"Roaring Meg was also the name of a cannon used during the Siege of Derry in 1689. This one is preserved on Derry's city walls but is currently undergoing restoration." from - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roaring_Meg_(cannon)

beachcomber australia Wiki's out of date - it's back since 2006.

From the Derry Journal I linked to above: Roaring Meg, named because of its ferocious sound in battle, was used during the Siege of Derry. One account of the famous cannon from the time of the Siege in the Seventeenth Century said: "The noise of its discharge was more terrifying than the contents of the charge to the enemy." The barrel of the cannon bears the inscription 'Fishmongers London 1642,' marking the fact that the cannon was one of 24 cannon sent to the Derry by the City of London and the London Companies after the 1641 siege.

The Morning Chronicle (London), Thursday, December 28, 1826, (quoting the Londonderry Journal) on the occasion of the unveiling of a stone marking the 138th anniversary of the shutting of the gates.

In the meantime the various bodies of the 'Prentice boys, attended by multitudes who sympathised with their feelings of enthusiastic gratitude, marched, with the Londonderry Legions, to the several gates, over which, respectively, they fired three volleys, then to King William's-square, where they fired thrice. Roaring Meg performed her obstreperous duty on the occasion, unimpaired by age, and in defiance of the envious tooth of Time, which corrodes the most perdurable of metals and "steals our years away".

From the Irish Independent, 3 August 1906:

An eighteen-pounder cannon used with destructive effect during the siege of Derry City (1688-9) by the defenders against the assailment of King James’s troops. This piece of ordnance, which is eleven feet long, was presented to the city by the Fishmongers’ Company, London, whose name and title are lettered in the casting on the breech, with the date, 1642. The Apprentice Boys used the old gun for ceremonial firing on Celebration Days (12th August and 18th December in each year). The gun got the name “Roaring Meg” from the extreme loudness of her report. When fired within the city the breakage of glass (then costly) was considerable, and this was especially resented by Catholic residents. In 1832 “Meg” ceased to roar. On the morning of a Celebration in that year it was discovered the gun was spiked, and the body of a tailor’s goose (iron) wedged into her bore. The Dublin Exhibition Executive seek to get “”Roaring Meg” on loan during the Exposition.

View South East from St Paul's Cathedral, London