Sharp, Granville

Sharp, Granville, a Christian philanthropist and writer, was born in 1734. He was educated for the bar, but, leaving the legal profession, he obtained a place in the Ordnance Office, which he resigned at the commencement of the American war, the principles of which he did not approve. He then took chambers in, the Temple, and devoted himself to a life of study. He first became known to the public by his interest in a poor and friendless negro brought from the West Indies, and turned out in the streets of London to beg or die. Sharp befriended the negro, not only feeding him and securing him a situation, but also defending him against his master, who wished to reclaim him as a runaway slave. But the decision of the full bench was with Sharp, that the negro was under the protection of English law and no longer the property of his former owner. Thus Sharp emancipated forever the blacks from slavery while on British soil, and, in fact, banished slavery from Great Britain. He now collected a number of other negroes found wandering about the streets of London and sent them back to the West Indies, where they formed the colony of Sierra Leone. He was also the institutor of the "Society for the Abolition of the Slave trade." Sharp was led to oppose the practice of marine impressment; and on one occasion obtained a writ of habeas corpus from the Court of King's Bench to bring back an impressed citizen from a vessel at the Nore, and by his arguments obliged the court to liberate him. He became the warm advocate of "parliamentary reform," arguing the people's natural right to a share in the legislature. Warmly attached to the Established Church, he was led to recommend an Episcopal Church in America, and introduced the first bishops from this country to the archbishop of Canterbury for consecration. Sharp died July 6, 1813. He was an able linguist, deeply read in theology, pious and devout. He published sixty-one works, principally pamphlets upon theological and political subjects and the evils of slavery. The following are the most important: Remarks on a Printed Paper entitled a Catalogue of the Sacred Vessels restored by Cyrus, etc. (Lond. 1765, 1775, 8vo): — Remarks on Several very Important Prophecies (1768, 1775, 8vo, 5 parts): — Slavery in England (1769, 8vo; with appendix, 1772, 8vo): — Declaration of the People's Natural Rights, etc. (1774, 1775, 8vo): — Remarks on the Uses of the Definite Article in the Greek Text of the New Testament (Durham, 1798, 8vo; 2d ed. with an appendix on Christ's divinity, 1802, 12mo): — On, Babylon (1805, 12mo): — Case of Saul (1807, 12mo): — Jerusalem (1808, 8vo). See Hoare, Memoirs and Correspondence of Granville Sharp (1820, 4to: 2d ed. 1828, 2 vols. 8vo); Stuart, Memoirs of Granville Sharp (N.Y. 1836, 12mo).