Anthony Keith Sharp, who died on 24 August 2009 aged 90, had two successful careers: firstly as a brave, wise and compassionate leader of men in the Army; secondly, as the Founder and first Headmaster of Bredon School.

Intriguingly, the seeds of the second career were sown early in the first. Called up at the outbreak of war in September 1939, Tony was posted to the Second Battalion The Monmouthshire Regiment (2 Mons). With an invasion expected, he was stationed, inter alia, at Porthcawl, while Daphne, his sweetheart since they were both 14, worked in MI5, being a good German speaker. On one occasion, Daphne had acquired a weekend pass to go to Porthcawl, but Tony was due to lead a mobile patrol. He swapped this duty with an officer called Jarrett. During the night, the patrol vehicle in which Tony should have been travelling went over a cliff, injuring this man. The injured officer was the brother of Hugh Jarrett, who later established Cotsbrook Hall prep school. Tony always felt guilty about the accident, so he sent all his sons to Cotsbrook Hall.

For his part, Hugh tried for many years to persuade Tony to leave the Army and start a senior independent school with him, which of course eventually came to fruition in September 1962, when they founded Bredon School.

Tony was born on 28 May 1919 in Alberta, Canada, the younger of two brothers. His father met and married Tony’s mother in Canada, where he had been running farms. They later returned to England with the family, where he became a prep school teacher.

Tony went to Brighton College, where he was an outstanding sportsman. He was selected to play cricket for Sussex at the very young age of 17 – and then for the Young Amateurs versus the Young Professionals at Lords.

Gaining entry to St Edmund Hall, Oxford University, in 1938, to read history, he was tipped as a future double blue at cricket and rugby. In the event, a poorly treated injury suffered in the university rugby freshers’ match meant he quite never reached those sporting heights.

The war cut short his time at university and he was selected for Sandhurst on the first wartime course. His first priority, however, was getting married to Daphne. This took place on 11 October 1940 in Caxton Hall Register Office in Westminster, since the church originally selected for the ceremony had been bombed the night before. Tony and Daphne were a great pair, combining warmth and great kindness to their family and friends, and always enthusiastic, energetic, forthright, with a strong sense of humour and epitomes of integrity.

He had a ‘good war’, although by no means an easy one. It culminated in an incident in early 1945 when he was part of the post-D Day invasion force in the Ardennes. Tony was a Company Commander and was advancing behind a tank when he fell in a tank rut, losing his spectacles. He continued following the tank when it took a direct hit from an anti-tank weapon, and a large piece of shrapnel hit Tony in the thigh. He thought: “That’s it, now I’m blind and on only one leg so I’ll be going for a rest!” However, he was patched up, given a crutch, and told to get back into the advance. Some hours later, he was shot in the other leg by a German sniper. At last he got his rest and was evacuated back to hospital in Maidstone.

After the war, Tony decided to become a regular soldier, feeling that life back at Oxford might be a little tame. He was asked to tour Australia with an MCC side, but had to decline. After a posting in Palestine, he was sent to Cyprus, where Daphne was able to join him. Pippa and Dougie (Mr Doug Sharp, now Bredon School’s Admissions and Development Manager) were now in the team. A series of moves followed. The family soon grew to include Snip, Charlie and James.

In mid 1956, Tony was appointed Adjutant to the formidable Lt-Col (later Brigadier) Richard Miers, who was commanding 1 South Wales Borderers (the re-constituted 2 Mons) against the communist terrorists in Malaya. Tony received high praise from his Commanding Officer, who recommended him strongly for command of a battalion, and also for a Mention in Despatches.

He was put in command of 1 SWB in Minden, Germany in late 1960. His adjutant at the time, Chris Lee (now Brigadier) remembers one incident in which – against the advice of his Regimental Sergeant Major – he gave a soldier cook one last chance to avoid a Court Martial when he appeared before him for a third time on a charge of drunkenness. The soldier straightened himself out and was later promoted.

Unbeknown to Tony’s colleagues, the calls from Hugh Jarrett were becoming more urgent, and so in 1962 he successfully applied for the special ‘golden bowler’ redundancy package just before it was withdrawn. In January 1963, he handed over the battalion to Colonel Tim Evill, which was at that time back in Norton Barracks, Worcester.

Many felt he would have risen much higher in the Army had he stayed, and the award of an OBE in the 1963 Birthday Honours was a fitting postscript to his military career.

Hugh Jarrett had found a property called Pull Court on sale for £25,000, a substantial sum when the average house was bought for £3,000. A businessman at heart, he had spotted a niche for a boarding school for boys who had failed the Common Entrance examination – the test giving entry to Britain’s major ‘public schools’.

Bredon School began with 17 pupils in September 1962. For the first few months, therefore, Col Sharp had to divide his time between commanding the regiment in Worcester and running the School. It was a notoriously hard winter and, with the snow lying deep in the first few days of January, his chauffeur-driven staff car had to be pushed by the boys.

Persuading people to lend a hand was, in fact, one of Col Sharp’s strengths. Some of the first staff at Bredon were ex-Army colleagues, including Brian Llewelyn Thomas who had left the Army some time before Col Sharp in order to take up teaching and who eventually became Bredon’s second Headmaster. The School’s workshop for metalwork and woodwork was built partly by the boys in these early years, with the inspiration and enthusiasm for such projects coming from the top.

Money was tight and conditions somewhat Spartan for staff and pupils alike; for the first two years, Col Sharp drew no salary. He remained clear-sighted and focused – getting the cricket pitch into good condition was a high priority, for example – but there was never any question of running the School like an Army base: all that had been left behind. Indeed, it was his non-disciplinarian, encouraging approach to boys who had all too often known only discouragement before their arrival at Bredon that gradually brought in more boys as word spread. From the beginning, developing self-discipline and self-confidence was part of the Bredon package. Leadership and teamwork skills were reinforced through expeditions based around a tumbledown cottage owned by the Sharps in the Brecon Beacons. A smoky ex-Army lorry provided transport for such expeditions, although when this was full boys were sometimes asked to hitch-hike to Wales. There was always a sense of fun. Many parties took place at Bredon School, and, in line with Col Sharp’s keen interest in sport, Colourmen Dinners were started.

Col Sharp’s approach was ahead of its time in many ways. One achievement of which he was particularly proud was that it was the first independent school to be officially recognised by the then Department of Education as offering special provision for dyslexics.

The pupil roll grew and had reached three figures by the early 1970s. Even a fire which caused substantial damage to Pull Court in 1971 proved to be only a temporary setback.

By the time he handed the School over to Brian Thomas in 1977, the foundations for Bredon’s later expansion were well laid. Throughout his long retirement, Col Sharp retained a keen interest in the School, attending Founder’s Day until very recent years.

He and Daphne, who died in 1997, had created a wonderfully close family of five children, 13 grand children and seven great grandsons.

Col Sharp also remained closely connected with the local area: he supported Bushley Cricket Club and loved Queenhill Church. A selector of Anglican clergy, he and Daphne both shared “shared an absolute conviction of the truth of the Christian faith,” according to the Reverend Christopher Moss, Queenhill Vicar and Chaplain to the School.

• The writer acknowledges the assistance in compiling this obituary of Brigadier Chris Lee and Kate Forrester, who delivered addresses at Lt-Col Sharp’s memorial service held at Bredon School on Friday 4 September 2009.