British scholar, philanthropist and abolitionist (1735–1813)
For the Labour Party Member of Parliament, see Granville Maynard Sharp.
Granville Sharp (10 November 1735 – 6 July 1813) was a British scholar, devout Christian, philanthropist and one of the first campaigners for the abolition of the slave trade in Britain. Born in Durham, he initially worked as a civil servant in the Board of Ordnance. His involvement in abolitionism began in 1767 when he defended a severely injured slave from Barbados in a legal case against his master. Increasingly devoted to the cause, he continually sought test cases against the legal justifications for slavery, and in 1769 he published the first tract in England that explicitly attacked the concept of slavery.
Granville Sharp's efforts culminated in 1772 when he was instrumental in securing Lord Mansfield's ruling in Somerset v Stewart, which held that slavery had no basis in English law. In 1787, Sharp and Thomas Clarkson founded the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade. The continuing campaigns of Sharp, Clarkson and William Wilberforce led to the abolition of slave trade through the Slave Trade Act 1807. Sharp died in 1813, two decades before the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, which abolished slavery in most of the British Empire.
In addition to his abolitionist cause, Sharp also championed the creation of a free colony in Sierra Leone, which encouraged black people in Britain to settle in west Africa. His efforts led to the founding of the Province of Freedom and later Freetown. He was also an advocate for the American colonists, parliamentary reform and the legislative independence of Ireland. An accomplished classicist and biblical scholar, Sharp was also one of the founders of the British and Foreign Bible Society.
GranvilleSharp (10 November 1735 – 6 July 1813) was a British scholar, devout Christian, philanthropist and one of the first campaigners for the abolition...
GranvilleSharp Pattison (1791–1851) was a Scottish anatomist. Professor of Anatomy at London University, after losing two British positions, he emigrated...
Gilbert GranvilleSharp (19 February 1894 – 1 November 1968), was a British Liberal Party politician and barrister. He was the born in Mafeking, South...
testament of GranvilleSharp, the husband of Matilda Lincolne Sharp. GranvilleSharp was a successful banker descended from the well-known Sharp family of...
news of the massacre to the attention of the anti-slavery campaigner GranvilleSharp, who worked unsuccessfully to have the ship's crew prosecuted for murder...
Clarkson and a group of activists against the slave trade, including GranvilleSharp, Hannah More and Charles Middleton. They persuaded Wilberforce to take...
Granville Maynard Sharp (5 January 1906 – 8 August 1997) was a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. Sharp was educated at Cleckheaton Grammar...
wives also were part of the settlement. Granville Town (named for its benefactor and patron GranvilleSharp) was established as the first town of the...
Say's law on the behaviour of markets GranvilleSharp (1735–1813), abolitionist and brother of William William Sharp (1729–1810), surgeon Thomas Sherlock...
by twelve men; including prominent campaigners Thomas Clarkson and GranvilleSharp, who, as Anglicans, were able to be more influential in Parliament...
company came about because of the work of the ardent abolitionists GranvilleSharp, Thomas Clarkson, Henry Thornton, and Thomas's brother John Clarkson...
Equiano informed abolitionists such as GranvilleSharp about the slave trade; that year he was the first to tell Sharp about the Zong massacre, which was...
against slavery. These included influential men such as James Ramsay and GranvilleSharp, many Quakers, and other nonconformists. The movement had been gathering...
form the nucleus of the Shaw–Hellier Collection, and the abolitionist GranvilleSharp. The catalogue accompanying the National Portrait Gallery exhibition...
However, slavery was reinstated in 1751. He also encouraged his friends GranvilleSharp and Hannah More to pursue the cause vigorously. Soon after his death...
towards abolishing slavery throughout the world. Some of the group, GranvilleSharp, Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce, were responsible for the...
became a Christian, adopting the forenames Henry and Granville to honour Henry Thornton and GranvilleSharp. Naimbanna died of unknown causes in July 1793....
man who was to be shipped back to the West Indies. Cugoano contacted GranvilleSharp, a well-known abolitionist, who was able to have Demane removed from...
evils of the institution. And later in life he became associated with GranvilleSharp and Hannah More, two of the early founders of the abolitionist movement...
donated money to support the lawyers for both sides of the argument. GranvilleSharp, an abolitionist layman who continually sought test cases against the...