John Sharpe, who has died aged 86, was a former police inspector, much respected historian and author.
John was born on February 16 1937, in the Cumbrian seaside village of Seascale.
His father, Joseph, was a local builder but rather than going into that trade, John threw himself into studies, gaining a place at Ulverston Grammar School and from there Durham University to study classics — a huge achievement for a boy from his background and tribute to the active mind he possessed throughout his life.
Durham consolidated a deep love of history ancient and modern and his love of classics meant that he would often say that he best understood modern French and Italian words by considering their Latin or Greek origins.
After university, National Service, brief stints in a bank and at Sellafield, in 1963 he joined the police. The force he joined was a world away from policing today and he later wrote about it in a wise and funny memoir The Police and Me: As the Thin Blue Line Got Thinner.
He attained the rank of inspector and his keen mind and organisational skills were recognised and put to use in helping implement in Cumbria some of the huge developments that occurred during his 30-year career, from tape recording interviews to the expansion of the M6.
His reward for the latter was him being the first to drive the new Shap M6 section, escorting the dignitaries who had opened it.
He spent time in the traffic section where he developed a love of fast and powerful motorbikes. He owned and lovingly cared for a Honda 750VFR which he rode until very recently, sometimes at speeds that would have raised the eyebrows of former colleagues.
John retired from the police in 1992 and threw himself into local history projects, active in the campaign in his home village of Clifton, near Penrith, to have the site of the last battle on English soil properly commemorated.
His passion in local history was finding characters who had shaped the local area and beyond and bringing them back to life. He regularly spoke at local history meetings, was often published in the Herald and soon developed his own entertaining writing style.
Coupling his extensive researches with that writing style, he published three well received books on local history: Colourful Characters of Cumbria’s Eden Valley, John Metcalfe Carleton: Georgian Rake of the Eden Valley and most significantly The Workman Brothers: English Pioneers of the American West.
His researches on the Workmans — two brothers from Clifton who were instrumental in founding Los Angeles — led to him being regularly invited to Los Angeles to speak of their lives at Homestead Museum which commemorates their achievements.
This was a link he continued through COVID via Zoom calls to his many US friends and followers.
In 1964 he met and married Lorna. In 1965 they had their only child, Caroline.
Lorna worked as a matron in residential care homes and became very well known in Penrith. Caroline would follow her mother into a caring profession becoming an outstanding occupational therapist and an associate director of the local health care trust.
Granddaughters Laura and Louisa Evans, of whom John was immensely proud, were born in the late 1990s.
John suffered the tragic loss of both Caroline and Lorna within a year of each of other and understandably for him life was never the same thereafter. He died peacefully in his sleep at Croft Avenue care home in Penrith on January19.
A memorial service for John was held at St Andrew’s Church, Penrith, today, February 29. Donations in support of Cancer Research can be made c/o Richardsons Funeral Directors, Penrith, who have charge of the arrangements.
