John Sharp (bishop)
John Sharp (16 February 1645 – 2 February 1714) was an English divine who served as Archbishop of York.
For other people named John Sharp, see John Sharp (disambiguation).
John Sharp
York
1691
1714 (death)
Dean of Norwich (1681–89)
Dean of Canterbury (1689–91)
16 February 1645
2 February 1714 (aged 68)
Elizabeth Palmer (m.1676)
Advisor to Queen Anne[edit]
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, whose low church views made him uncongenial to the Queen. Anne, as he records, said: "that I would be her confessor, and she would be mine". His diary makes it clear that she often confided State business to him, and listened carefully to any arguments he made, even if she did not always follow his advice. His diary is a useful source for her reign, and contradicts the Memoirs of Sarah Churchill on a number of crucial points. Unlike Sarah, he maintains that the Queen was devastated by her husband's death ("we both wept"), and that her increasingly close friendship with Abigail Masham was not a secret ("talked with the Queen of Mrs. Masham, I find she has a true kindness for her").
Sarah Churchill, who prided herself on never dissembling her opinions, and eventually lost the Queen's friendship as a result, said that Sharp quickly came to know and comply with the Queen's wishes on all subjects. However, the Queen never appointed a bishop without consulting Sharp and always tried to obtain his consent to her choice. By contrast, when Archbishop Tenison, who was out of favour, protested that he had not been consulted about the appointment of Sir Jonathan Trelawny, 3rd Baronet as the new Bishop of Winchester in 1707, the Queen cut him short with the cold remark that "the matter was decided", and she continued to ignore Tenison's wishes on episcopal appointments. The Queen relied on Sharp to support her policies in the House of Lords, although she made it clear that he could vote against her wishes if his conscience so demanded it; he was also expected to act as one of her Parliamentary "managers", lobbying not only the bishops but also those Yorkshire MPs who were known to him personally. It is a sign of her special trust in Sharp that she confided to him her plans, which proved to be unsuccessful, to change the Ministry in late 1707.
He was a Commissioner for the Union with Scotland in 1705–7, as was his fellow Archbishop, Tenison. 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.[5] On the much-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. Sharp is buried in York Minister with a monument sculpted by Francis Bird.[9]
Family[edit]
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.[2] The English surgeon William Sharp and his brother the abolitionist Granville Sharp were sons of Thomas. Sir Joshua Sharp, Sheriff of London in 1713, was the Archbishop's brother.