Campaigns in Europe
While traveling from India to England to take up his post in the 95th Rifles, in 1805, Sharpe is caught up in the Battle of Trafalgar, his first direct encounter with France and its European allies as an Infantry officer. On the journey he also meets and falls in love with Lady Grace Hale, the wife of a politician (Sharpe's Trafalgar).
Grace sets up home with Sharpe at Shorncliffe, but dies giving birth to their child, who survives her by only a few hours. Sharpe's fortune is assumed by the lawyers to be part of Grace's estate and seized. Sharpe falls into a deep depression, worsened by conflict with other officers in the Rifles, who relegate him to the role of Quartermaster, and leave him in barracks when the regiment is posted to the Baltic in 1807. Sharpe, unable to sell his commission, plans to desert. He returns to Wapping to rob and kill Jem Hocking, the abusive master of the foundling home where Sharpe was raised. Before Sharpe can disappear with the stolen cash, he encounters General Baird, a former colleague from India, who recruits him to protect John Lavisser, a Foreign Office agent sent to negotiate with the Danish Crown Prince. Lavisser betrays Sharpe, and forces him into hiding in Copenhagen, where he witnesses the bombardment of the city and the British capture of the Danish fleet (Sharpe's Prey).
In "Sharpe's Rifles," Sharpe is said to have fought against the French in Portugal at Roliça and Vimeiro, both in August 1808. Sharpe is now referred to as a Second Lieutenant because, as an light infantry unit of the British army, there are no Colours and thus no Ensigns in the Rifles.
By early 1809 Sharpe is in Spain with the 95th Rifles, undertaking the terrible hardships of the rearguard of the retreat to Corunna. Cut off from the main body of the army, he is forced to take command of a handful of surviving but mutinous riflemen (including Patrick Harper), while protecting a small party of English missionaries and assisting Spanish Partisans in the temporary liberation of the city of Santiago de Compostela (Sharpe's Rifles).
After making their way to Portugal, and taking part in the Battle of the Douro, Sharpe and his surviving riflemen are attached to the Light Company of the South Essex (a fictional regiment) as part of Wellesley's Peninsula Army. Sharpe takes part in a number of notable actions, either with the South Essex, or on detached duty for Major Michael Hogan, Wellesley's head of intelligence. These include the capture of a French Imperial Eagle at the Battle of Talavera in 1809, and storming of one the breaches at Badajoz. He also takes an active role in the first siege of Almeida, the Battle of Bussaco, and of Barossa, Ciudad Rodrigo, Fuentes de Onoro, Salamanca, Vitoria and Toulouse.
Over this period he rises in rank from Lieutenant through Captain to Major, eventually taking unofficial command of the entire regiment. In parallel Sharpe's friend and colleague, Harper, rises from Rifleman to Regimental Sergeant Major.
His intelligence work for Hogan and Wellesley brings him the long lasting enmity of the fictional French spymaster Pierre Ducos, who conspires several times to destroy Sharpe's career, reputation and life.
Sharpe possibly appears in Simon Scarrow's The Fields of Death, although his surname is not confirmed. A Major in the 95th Rifles called Richard and who, "unusually for an officer... carries a rifle like his men" delivers captured French orders to the Duke of Wellington indicating the enemy's intention to fall back to Vitoria.
Prior to the Battle of Waterloo, Sharpe is appointed aide to the Prince of Orange, so finally achieving the rank of Lt. Colonel. Disgusted by the Prince's dangerous incompetence during the course of the battle, Sharpe deserts his post (after making an attempt on the Prince's life), but comes to the aid of his old regiment, Prince of Wales Own Volunteers (formerly the South Essex), steadying the line and preventing a French breakthrough. Wellesley then gives him command of the unit for the remainder of the battle (Sharpe's Waterloo).
Read more about this topic: Sharpe (novel Series)
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