http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sharp_(bishop)

John Sharp (16 February 1644/5 – 2 February 1714), English divine, Archbishop of York, was born at Bradford, and educated at Christ's College, Cambridge.

Biography

Sharp was ordained deacon and priest on 12 August 1667, and until 1676 was chaplain and tutor in the family of Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham at Kensington House. Meanwhile he became archdeacon of Berkshire (1673), prebendary of Norwich, rector of St Giles's-in-the-Fields, and in 1681 dean of Norwich.

In 1686, when chaplain to James II, he was suspended for ten months on a charge of having made some reflections on the king, and in 1688 was cited for refusing to read the Declaration of Indulgence. He was described as a "vehement preacher" whose eyes "flamed remarkably".

Under William and Mary he succeeded Tillotson as Dean of Canterbury in 1689, and (after declining a choice of sees vacated by non-jurors who were his personal friends) followed Thomas Lamplugh as Archbishop of York in 1691. He made a thorough investigation of the affairs of his see, and regulated the disordered chapter of Southwell.

He preached at the coronation of Queen Anne and became her Lord High Almoner and confidential adviser in matters of church and state, completely eclipsing Thomas Tenison, the Archbishop of Canterbury. His diary makes it clear that she often confided State business to him, and listened to any objections he made. His diary is a useful source for her reign, and often contradicts Sarah Churchill: unlike Sarah, he maintains that the Queen was devastated by her husband's death ("we both wept"), and that her friendship with Abigail Masham was not a secret (" talked with the Queen of Mrs. Masham, I find she has a true kindness for her"). He welcomed the Armenian bishops who came to England in 1713, and corresponded with the Prussian court on the possibility of the Anglican liturgy as a means of reconciliation between Lutherans and Calvinists. On the still debated question of whether the Queen favoured the Old Pretender or the House of Hanover, Sharp, although he died before the matter became critical, was certain that she favoured the Hanoverian succession.

He died at Bath on 2 February 1714. At his request the Queen promoted William Dawes to fill the vacant see.

Works

His works (chiefly sermons) were published in 7 volumes in 1754, and in 5 volumes at Oxford in 1829.

Family

Sharp was married, by John Tillotson, at Clerkenwell in 1676 to Elizabeth Palmer of Winthorpe, Lincolnshire. Of his fourteen children, only four survived him. Of these, John Sharp (1678–1727) of Grafton Park represented Ripon in Parliament from 1701 to 1714; he was a commissioner of trade from 15 September 1713 to September 1714, and died on 9 March 1726–7; in Wicken church, Northamptonshire, there is a monument to him and his wife Anna Maria, daughter of Charles Hosier of Wicken Park. Thomas (1693–1758), the youngest son, was a churchman and the biographer of his father. The English surgeon William Sharp and his brother the abolitionist Granville Sharp were sons of Thomas