Editing Granville Sharp

{{Short description|English scholar, philanthropist and abolitionist (1735–1813)}}
{{For|the Labour Party Member of Parliament|Granville Maynard Sharp}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
[[File:Granville Sharp (Hoare memoire).jpg|thumb|Granville Sharp]]

'''Granville Sharp''' (10 November 1735 – 6 July 1813) was an English scholar, philanthropist and one of the first campaigners for the [[Abolitionism in the United Kingdom|abolition of the slave trade]] in Britain. Born in [[Durham, England|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 case (law)|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 [[William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield|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 [[Cline Town|Province of Freedom]] and later [[Freetown]]. He was also an advocate for the [[American Revolution|American colonists]], parliamentary reform and the legislative independence of [[Ireland]]. An accomplished [[Classicism|classicist]] and biblical scholar, Sharp was also one of the founders of the [[British and Foreign Bible Society]].

==Life==
Granville Sharp was the son of Judith Wheler (d. 1757) and [[Thomas Sharp (archdeacon)|Thomas Sharp]] (1693–1759), [[Archdeacon of Northumberland]], prolific theological writer and biographer of his father, [[John Sharp (archbishop)|John Sharp]], [[Archbishop of York]]. Judith was the daughter of travel writer [[George Wheler (clergyman and scholar)|George Wheler]] and Grace née Higgons, who grew up in the political household of Sir [[Thomas Higgons]].

Sharp was born in [[Durham, England|Durham]] in 1735. He had eight older brothers and five younger sisters. Five of his brothers survived their infancy and by the time Sharp had reached his midteens the family funds set aside for their education had been all but depleted, so Sharp was educated at [[Durham School]]<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ditchfield |first= G. M. |title=Sharp, Granville (1735–1813)|journal=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]|issue=Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008  |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com./view/article/25208 |access-date=9 September 2009 |quote=According to Prince Hoare, his first biographer, Granville: was at a very early age withdrawn from the public grammar-school at Durham, before he had gained more than the first rudiments of the learned languages, and was sent to a smaller school, to be instructed more particularly in writing and arithmetic. }}</ref> but mainly at home.<ref name="Sheppard">{{cite book|title=Granville Sharp: Father of the Anti-Slavery Movement in Britain|last=Sheppard|first=John|publisher=London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham|year=2007|location=London|oclc=271769207}}</ref>

He was apprenticed to a London linen-draper at the age of fifteen.  Sharp loved to argue and debate, and his keen intellect found little outlet in the mundane work in which he was involved.  However, one of his fellow-apprentices was [[Socinianism|Socinian]] (a Unitarian sect that denied the divinity of Christ), and in order better to argue, Sharp taught himself [[Greek language|Greek]].  Another fellow apprentice was Jewish, and so Sharp learned [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] in order to be able to discuss theological matters with his colleague. Sharp also conducted genealogical research for one of his masters, [[Henry Willoughby, 13th Baron Willoughby of Parham|Henry Willoughby]], who had a claim to the barony of [[Baron Willoughby of Parham|Willoughby de Parham]], and it was through Sharp's work that Willoughby was able to take his place in the House of Lords.

Sharp's apprenticeship ended in 1757, and both his parents died soon after. That same year he accepted a position as Clerk in the Ordnance Office at the [[Tower of London]]. This civil service position allowed him plenty of free time to pursue his scholarly and intellectual pursuits.<ref name=Sheppard/> 
 
[[File:The Sharp Family by Johann Zoffany.jpg|thumb|left|''[[The Sharp Family]]'', by [[Johann Zoffany]], 1779–81, National Portrait Gallery, London. The family musical ensemble are pictured on their barge, ''Apollo'', with [[All Saints Church, Fulham|All Saints', Fulham]] in the background.  Granville Sharp is the seated male figure in the centre.]]

Sharp had a keen musical interest. Four of his siblings – [[William Sharp (surgeon)|William]], later to become surgeon to [[George III of the United Kingdom|George III]], James, Elizabeth and Judith – had also come to London, and they met every day.  They all played musical instruments as a family orchestra, giving concerts at William's house in [[Mincing Lane]] and later in the family sailing barge, ''Apollo'', which was moored at the Bishop of London's steps in [[Fulham]], near William's country home, [[Fulham House]].<ref>Fulham at the time was a village surrounded by countryside, not part of the Greater London conurbation as today.  The Sharps' Fulham House is not the house now known as Fulham House – the Sharps' Fulham House was demolished in the 1840s, and stood roughly where the Putney Travel Inn stands today.</ref> The fortnightly water-borne concerts took place from 1775–1783, the year his brother James died. Sharp had an excellent bass voice, described by George III as "the best in Britain", and he played the clarinet, oboe, flageolet, kettle drums, harp and a double-flute which he had made himself. He often signed his name in notes to friends as [[G♯ (musical note)|G♯]].<ref name=Sheppard/> 
 
Sharp died at Fulham House on 6 July 1813, and a memorial of him was erected in [[Westminster Abbey]].<ref>[[Arthur Penrhyn Stanley|Stanley, A.P.]], ''Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey'' ([[London]]; [[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]]; [[1882]]), p. 248.</ref>  He lived in [[Fulham]], London, and was buried in the churchyard of [[All Saints Church, Fulham|All Saints', Fulham]]. The vicar would not allow a funeral sermon to be preached in the church because Sharp had been involved with the [[British and Foreign Bible Society]], which was [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|Nonconformist]].<ref name=Sheppard/>

==Abolitionism==
Sharp is best known for his untiring efforts for the [[Abolitionism in the United Kingdom|abolition of slavery]], although he was involved in many other causes, fired by a dislike of any social or legal injustice.

===Sharp's first involvement: Jonathan Strong===
Sharp's brother William held a regular surgery for the local poor at his surgery at Mincing Lane, and one day in 1765 when Sharp was visiting, he met [[Jonathan Strong (Barbadian)|Jonathan Strong]]. Strong was a young black slave from Barbados who had been badly beaten by his master, David Lisle, a lawyer, with a pistol to the head. This left him close to blindness and as a result he had been cast out into the street as useless.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Fisher|first=Ruth Anna|date=1943|title=Granville Sharp and Lord Mansfield|journal=The Journal of Negro History|volume=28|issue=4|pages=381–389|doi=10.2307/2714946|jstor=2714946|s2cid=149909453}}</ref> Sharp and his brother tended to his injuries and had him admitted to [[Barts Hospital]], where his injuries were so bad they necessitated a four-month stay. The Sharps paid for his treatment and, when he was fit enough, found him employment as an errand runner with a [[Quaker]] apothecary friend of theirs.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|date=1813|title=Account of the Late Granville Sharp., Esq. a Distinguished Patriot and Philanthropist|journal=The Belfast Monthly Magazine|volume=11|issue=62|pages=209–219|jstor=30074593}}</ref>

In 1767, Lisle saw Strong in the street and planned to sell him to a Jamaica planter named James Kerr for £30. Two slave catchers captured Strong with the intention to ship him to the Caribbean where he would work on Kerr's plantation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://abolition.e2bn.org/people_22.html |title=Granville Sharp (1735-1813): The Civil Servant |website=The Abolition Project |access-date=23 January 2019 |archive-date=2 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202142822/http://abolition.e2bn.org/people_22.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Strong was able to get word to Sharp, who went directly to the Lord Mayor who in turn convened those laying claim to Strong. In court, Macbean, Kerr's attorney, produced the bill of sales from when Lisle sold Strong to Kerr. That was not enough to convince the Lord Mayor because Strong was imprisoned without clear cause, and so he liberated Strong. Afterwards, a West India Captain named David Laird grabbed Jonathan Strong's arm and claimed he would take him as James Kerr's property. Sharp, at the suggestion of Thomas Beech, the Coroner of London, threatened to charge Laird with assault should he attempt to take Strong by force. Laird let go of Strong and everyone who had been summoned departed without further dispute.<ref name=":0" />

Afterwards, David Laird instituted a court action against Sharp claiming £200 damages for taking their property, and Lisle challenged Sharp to a duel—Sharp told Lisle that he could expect satisfaction from the law. Sharp consulted lawyers and found that as the law stood it favoured the master's rights to his slaves as property: that a slave remained in law the chattel of his master even on English soil. Sharp said "he could not believe the law of England was really so injurious to [[Natural and legal rights|natural rights]]."  He spent the next two years in study of English law, especially where it applied to the liberty of the individual.

Lisle disappeared from the records early, but Kerr persisted with his suit through eight legal terms before it was dismissed, and Kerr was ordered to pay substantial damages for wasting the court's time. Jonathan Strong was free, even if the law had not been changed, but he only lived for five years as a free man, dying at 25.<ref name=Sheppard/>

===Increasing involvement===
[[File:William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield]]]]

The Strong case made a name for Sharp as the "protector of the Negro"{{Citation needed|date=November 2018}} and he was approached by two more slaves, although in both cases (''Hylas v Newton'' and ''[[Slavery at common law#R v Stapylton|R v Stapylton]]'') the results were unsatisfactory, and it became plain that the judiciary – and [[William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield|Lord Mansfield]], the Chief Justice of the King's Bench (the leading judge of the day) in particular – was trying very hard ''not'' to decide the issue. By this time, Great Britain controlled the largest share in the [[Atlantic slave trade|transatlantic slave trade]], and the [[triangular trade]] based on slavery was important to the [[Economy of the United Kingdom|British economy]].

In 1769 Sharp published ''A Representation of the Injustice and Dangerous Tendency of Tolerating Slavery ...'', the first tract in England attacking slavery. Within it, he argues that "the laws of nature" grant equality to all humans regardless of any artificial laws imposed by society. He also condemns slave contracts because the liberty of a man cannot be matched in value by anything.<ref name=":1" /> Sharp's work attracted the attention of [[James Oglethorpe]], who had long been concerned with slavery as a moral issue. The two men remained close until Oglethorpe's death in 1785.<ref>Wilson, Thomas. ''The Oglethorpe Plan'' (Epilogue). Charlottesville, Va: University of Virginia Press, 2012.</ref>

=== ''[[Somerset v Stewart]]'' ===
(Also called [[Somersett's case]].) On 13 January 1772, Sharp was visited and asked for help by James Somerset, an indigenous person of Africa who had been brought to America to be sold in the Colony of Virginia. He was then taken to England with his master Charles Stewart in 1769, where he was able to run away in October 1771. After evading slave hunters employed by Stewart for 56 days, Somerset had been caught and put in the slave ship Ann and Mary, to be taken to Jamaica and sold.<ref name=":0" /> This was the perfect case for Sharp because, unlike the previous cases, this was a question of lawful slavery rather than of ownership. Three Londoners had applied to [[Lord Mansfield]] for a writ of [[habeas corpus]], which had been granted, with Somerset having to appear at a hearing on 24 January 1772. Members of the public responded to Somerset's plight by sending money to pay for his lawyers (who in the event all gave their services ''[[pro bono publico]]''), while Stewart's costs were met by the West Indian planters and merchants.

Having studied English law for several years by this point, Sharp called on his now-formidable knowledge of the law regarding individual liberty and briefed Somerset's lawyers.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|date=1980|first=Charles R. |last=Ritcheson|title=Robert E. Toohey. ''Liberty and Empire: British Radical Solutions to the American Problem, 1774–1776''. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. 1978. Pp. xiv, 210. $13.00|journal=The American Historical Review|doi=10.1086/ahr/85.1.122-a|issn=1937-5239|pages=122–123|volume=85 |issue=1}}</ref> Mansfield's deliberate procrastination stretched [[Somerset's Case]] over six hearings from January to May, and he finally delivered his judgment on 22 June 1772. It was a clear victory for Somerset, Sharp and the lawyers who acted for Somerset. Mansfield acknowledged that English law did not allow slavery, and only a new Act of Parliament ("[[positive law]]") could bring it into legality.  However, the verdict in the case is often misunderstood to mean the end of slavery in England. It was no such thing: it dealt only with the question of the forcible sending of someone overseas into bondage; a slave becomes free the moment they set foot on English territory. It was one of the most significant achievements in the campaign to abolish slavery throughout the world, more for its effect than for its actual legal weight.<ref name=Sheppard/>

===The ''Zong'' massacre===
In 1781 the crew of the over-capacity slaver ship ''[[Zong massacre|Zong]]'' massacred an estimated 132<ref>The exact number of deaths is unknown, but First Mate James Kelsall later said that "the outside number of drowned amounted to 142 in the whole" {{Cite journal | last1 = Lewis | first1 = Andrew | title = Martin Dockray and the ''Zong'': A Tribute in the Form of a Chronology | doi = 10.1080/01440360701698551 | journal = Journal of Legal History | volume = 28 | issue = 3 | pages = 357–370| year = 2007| s2cid = 144811837 }}</ref> slaves by tossing them overboard; an additional ten slaves threw themselves overboard in defiance or despair and over sixty people had perished through neglect, injuries, disease and overcrowding.

The ''Zong'''s crew had mis-navigated her course and overestimated water supplies; according to the [[maritime law]] notion of [[general average]], cargo purposely jettisoned at sea to save the remainder was eligible for insurance compensation. It was reasoned that as the slaves were cargo, the ship's owners would be entitled to the £30 a head compensation for their loss if thrown overboard: were the slaves to die on land or at sea of so-called "natural" causes, no compensation would be forthcoming.<ref name=Sheppard/>

The ship's owners, a syndicate of merchants based in [[Liverpool]], filed their insurance claim; the insurers disputed it. In this first case the court found for the owners. The insurers appealed.

Sharp was visited on 19 March 1783 by [[Olaudah Equiano]], a famous freed slave and later to be the author of a successful autobiography, who told him of the horrific events aboard the ''Zong''. Sharp immediately became involved in the court case, facing his old adversary over slave trade matters, the [[Solicitor General for England and Wales]], [[John Lee (Attorney-General)|John Lee]]. Lee notoriously declared that "the case was the same as if assets had been thrown overboard", and that a master could drown slaves without "a surmise of impropriety".

The judge ruled that the ''Zong'''s owners could not claim insurance on the slaves: the lack of sufficient water demonstrated that the cargo had been badly managed. However, no officers or crew were charged or prosecuted for the deliberate killing of the slaves, and Sharp's attempts to mount a prosecution for murder never got off the ground.<ref name=Sheppard/>

===The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade===
[[File:Benjamin Rush.png|thumb|Founding Father Benjamin Rush]]
Sharp was not completely alone at the beginning of the struggle: the Quakers, especially in America, were committed abolitionists. Sharp had a long and fruitful correspondence with [[Anthony Benezet]], a Quaker abolitionist in [[Pennsylvania]]. However, the Quakers were a marginal group in England, and were debarred from standing for Parliament, and they had no doubt as to who should be the chairman of the new society they were founding, The [[Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade]]. On 22 May 1787, at the inaugural meeting of the committee – nine Quakers and three [[Anglican]]s (who strengthened the committee's likelihood of influencing Parliament) – Sharp's position was unanimously agreed. In the 20 years of the society's existence, during which Sharp was ever-present at committee meetings, such was Sharp's modesty that he would never take the chair, always contriving to arrive just after the meeting had started to avoid any chance of having to take the meeting. While the committee felt it sensible to concentrate on the slave trade, Sharp felt strongly that the target should be slavery itself. On this he was out-voted, but he worked tirelessly for the Society nevertheless.<ref name="Sheppard"/>

===Correspondence with Benjamin Rush===
The correspondence between Granville Sharp and Anthony Benezet inspired [[Benjamin Rush]], a physician in Philadelphia who would later become one of the founding fathers, to contact Sharp as well. This led to a connection by letter between the two that lasted 36 years. In the first letter, written May 1, 1773, Rush attests to the increasing compassion within the colonies towards the suffering of the slaves. He makes mention of the clergy publicly arguing that slavery is a violation of both "the laws of nature" and Christian belief.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last1=Woods|first1=John A.|last2=Rush|first2=Benjamin|last3=Sharp|first3=Granville|date=1967|title=The Correspondence of Benjamin Rush and Granville Sharp 1773—1809|journal=Journal of American Studies|volume=1|issue=1|pages=1–38|jstor=27552761|doi=10.1017/S0021875800005946|s2cid=145052832 }}</ref> This detail is noteworthy because Sharp was of the belief that laws should follow both "the laws of nature" and that which is given in Judeo-Christian scripture.<ref name=":2" /> Another letter, written February 21, 1774, has Sharp providing Rush with several pamphlets, written by himself and his brothers William and James, to be shared with friends and eventually to Lord Dartmouth. Many similar exchanges of pamphlets occur throughout their correspondence, which allowed them to inspire one another and refine their arguments against slavery. The final letter of their correspondence was written June 20, 1809, four years prior to the death of both figures in 1813.<ref name=":3" />

===Abolition===
When Sharp heard that the [[Slave Trade Act 1807|Act of Abolition]] had at last been passed by both Houses of Parliament and given Royal Assent on 25 March 1807, he fell to his knees and offered a prayer of thanksgiving.  He was now 71, and had outlived almost all of the allies and opponents of his early campaigns. He was regarded as the grand old man of the abolition struggle, and although a driving force in its early days, his place had later been taken by others such as [[Thomas Clarkson]], [[William Wilberforce]] and the [[Clapham Sect]]. Sharp, however, did not see the final abolition as he died on 6 July 1813.<ref name=Sheppard/>

==The Province of Freedom==
[[File:Province of Freedom.jpg|thumb|200px|right|View from Granville Town looking north to Bullom Shore from ''Voyages to the River Sierra Leone'' by John Matthews, 1788]]

Although no reliable figures exist, it is thought that in the early 1780s there were around 15,000 black people in Britain, most of them without employment. Ideas were formulated for a settlement in Africa where they could return "home". [[Henry Smeathman]], a plant collector and [[entomologist]] who had visited Sierra Leone, propounded to the [[Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor]] that the country would be an excellent location.  Worried black people came to see Sharp, concerned that they might be re-enslaved in such a place.<ref>Michael Siva, ''Why did Black Londoners not join the Sierra Leone Resettlement Scheme 1783-1815?'' (London: Open University, 2014), p. 20-4.</ref><ref>Simon Schama, ''Rough Crossings'' (London: BBC Books, 2005), pp. 183-5.</ref>

Sharp took to the idea with alacrity: he saw it as a perfect opportunity to create a new model society from scratch. He drew up plans and regulations, and persuaded the Treasury to finance the ships and pay £12 a head to each embarking settler. He named the new, egalitarian, peaceful Christian society-to-be "[[Cline Town, Sierra Leone|The Province of Freedom]]".<ref>Simon Schama, ''Rough Crossings'' (London: BBC Books, 2005), pp. 185-194</ref>

The utopian ideal quickly went sour in the face of tremendous logistical difficulties; fire broke out even before the ships had left London. Sharp's friend, [[Olaudah Equiano]], highlighted corruption in the process of stocking the ships, and was dismissed as a result; 411 people sailed for Africa, including some 60 white women without Sharp's knowledge, married to the male settlers. It is unclear how many were previously betrothed and how many married in preparation for the journey; traditionally these women have been characterized as prostitutes from Deptford. However, historians have since dismissed that description as false.<ref name="Simon Schama 2005 pp. 200-16">Simon Schama, ''Rough Crossings'' (London: BBC Books, 2005), pp. 200-16.</ref><ref>Michael Siva, ''Why did Black Londoners not join the Sierra Leone Resettlement Scheme 1783-1815?'' (London: Open University, 2014), p. 28-33, 40-3.</ref> The settlers arrived in May 1787, at the onset of the five-month rainy season, and a settlement of sorts was built, named Granville Town. The commander of the naval escort that had brought the settlers concluded that they were unfit for the complex challenge of founding a new settlement in a potentially hostile environment.<ref name="Simon Schama 2005 pp. 200-16"/> One of the settlers whom Granville had rescued from a slave ship left the settlement to work in the slave trade, much to Sharp's despair. By the end of 1788 Sharp had poured £1,735 18s 8d of his own money into the settlement. In 1789 Granville Town was burned to the ground by a local [[Temne people|Temne]] chief; this may have been in retaliation for the burning of a Temne by a slave-trader.<ref name=Sheppard/>

Through The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, in 1790 Granville came into contact with [[Thomas Peters (black leader)|Thomas Peters]], a former American slave who fought with the British during revolution in return for freedom. Sharp was instrumental in helping Peters to establish [[Freetown]], Sierra Leone. Sharp is considered to be one of the founders of Sierra Leone alongside Thomas Peters and the Clarkson brothers ([[Thomas Clarkson]] and [[John Clarkson (abolitionist)|John Clarkson]]).

==Other activism==
Sharp ardently sympathized with the revolt of the [[American Revolution|American colonists]]. He believed in peace in America, but he also believed they were entitled to "Equitable Representation", an idea repeated in the famous phrase "[[No taxation without representation]]". When he realised his job in the Ordnance Office meant sending equipment to British forces fighting the colonists, he took leave of absence. As the war continued, he wrote to his employers "I cannot return to my ordnance duty whilst a bloody war is carried on, unjustly, against my fellow-subjects." Eventually in 1776 he resigned, never to have paid employment again and supported willingly by his brothers, who were happy to see him dedicate his time to his various causes.<ref name=Sheppard/>

Sharp also advocated parliamentary reform and the legislative independence of [[Ireland]], and agitated against the [[impressment]] of sailors for the [[Royal Navy|Navy]]. It was through his efforts{{citation needed|date=June 2020}} that bishops for the [[United States|United States of America]] were consecrated by the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] in 1787.  He also argued for the reform of Parliament based on [[Magna Carta]] and to back this up he devised the doctrine of accumulative authority. This doctrine stated that because almost innumerable parliaments had approved Magna Carta it would take the same number of Parliaments to repeal it. Like many others, Sharp accepted the supremacy of Parliament as an institution, but did not believe that this power was without restraint, and thought that Parliament could not repeal Magna Carta.

Sharp was also one of the founders and the first President of the [[British and Foreign Bible Society]] and of the Society for the Conversion of the Jews.<ref name=":1" />

==Classical grammarian==
One of Granville's letters written in 1778 (published in 1798), propounded what has come to be known as '''The Granville Sharp Rule''' (in actuality only the first of six principles that Sharp articulated involving the Greek article):

:"When the copulative ''kai'' connects two [[noun]]s of the same [[case (linguistics)|case]], if the article ''ho'', or any of its cases, precedes the first of the said nouns or participles, and is not repeated before the second noun or participle, the latter always relates to the same person that is expressed or described by the first noun or participle ..."<ref name=Sharp>{{cite book | last = Sharp | first =  Granville | title = Remarks on the Uses of the Definitive Article in the Greek Text of the New Testament, Containing Many New Proofs of the Divinity of Christ, from Passages Which Are Wrongly Translated in the Common English Version | year = 1798| location = London | page = 8 | url = https://archive.org/details/remarksonusesofd00sharrich }}</ref>

This rule, if true, has a profound bearing on [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] doctrine, which led to a ‘celebrated controversy’, in which many leading divines took part, including [[Christopher Wordsworth]].

Sharp's Rule and its application to passages in the New Testament which teach the deity of Christ were the subject of the series "The Greek Article and the Doctrine of Christ's Deity," by Clifford Kuehne, published in the ''Journal of Theology'' of the Church of the Lutheran Confession.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Subjects {{!}} Journal of Theology |url=https://journaloftheology.org/subjects/#:~:text=Christ's%20Deity%20&%20the%20Greek%20Article |access-date=2025-01-13 |language=en-US}}</ref> This series also discusses the application of Colwell's Rule to John 1:1.

Daniel B. Wallace says about Sharp:

:"His strong belief in Christ’s deity led him to study the Scriptures in the original in order to defend more ably that precious truth ... As he studied the Scriptures in the original, he noticed a certain pattern, namely, when the construction article-noun-και-noun involved personal nouns which were singular and not proper names, they always referred to the same person. He noticed further that this rule applied in several texts to the deity of Jesus Christ."<ref name=Wallace1983>{{cite journal | last = Wallace | first = Daniel B. | title = The Semantic Range of the Article-Noun-Kai'-Noun Plural Construction in the New Testament | journal = [[Grace Theological Journal]] | volume = 4 | issue = 1 | page = 61 | year = 1983 | url = https://biblicalelearning.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Wallace-ArticleNoun-GTJ.pdf | access-date = 2023-08-18}}</ref>

But Wallace claims that this rule is often too broadly applied. "Sharp’s rule Number 1" does not always work with plural forms of personal titles. Instead, a phrase that follows the form article-noun-"and"-noun, when the nouns involved are plurals, can involve two entirely distinct groups, two overlapping groups, two groups of which is one a subset of the other, or two identical groups.<ref>Wallace 1983, pp. 72–78</ref> In other words, the rule is of very specific and limited application.

Of Granville Sharp's most successful critic, Calvin Winstanley, Wallace says:

:"Winstanley conceded 'There are, you say, no exceptions, in the New Testament, to your rule; that is, I suppose, unless these particular texts [i.e. the ones Sharp used to adduce Christ's deity] be such ... it is nothing surprising to find all these particular texts in question appearing as the exceptions to your rule, and the sole exceptions ... in the New Testament'<ref name=Winstanley>{{cite book | last = Winstanley | first =  Calvin | title = A Vindication of Certain Passages in the Common English Version of the New Testament: Addressed to Granville Sharp, Esq | year = 1819|edition=2nd | pages = [https://archive.org/details/vindicationofcer00wins/page/39 39]–40 | url =https://archive.org/details/vindicationofcer00wins}}</ref> – an obvious concession that he could find no exceptions save for the ones he supposed exist in the christologically pregnant texts."<ref name=Wallace1997>{{cite book | last = Wallace | first =  Daniel B. | title = Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament | year = 1997 | page = 273, n.50 }}</ref>

What Wallace neglects by use of ellipses (...) is the flow of Winstanley's argument as well as the character of his theology.<ref>Winstanley ''passim''</ref>  Winstanley's quote argued that one could not apply Sharp's rule to the possible exceptions unless it could be shown that extra-biblical literature also followed Sharp's rule. Through multiple examples Winstanley showed that in classical Greek and in patristic Greek – all the literature surrounding the New Testament, the rule simply did not apply consistently. Wallace's quote comes from the end of Winstanley's argument in which he clearly is not conceding the point. To complete Winstanley's argument:

:"There are, you say, no exceptions, in the New Testament, to your rule; that is, I suppose, unless these particular texts be such; which you think utterly improbable.  You would argue, then, that if these texts were exceptions, there would be more.  I do not perceive any great weight in this hypothetical reasoning.  But, however plausible it may appear, the reply is at hand.  There are no other words so likely to yield exceptions; because there are no other words, between which the insertion of the copulative, would effect so remarkable a deviation from the established form of constructing them to express one person; and of course, would so pointedly suggest a difference of signification."<ref>Winstanley, p. 39</ref>

Winstanley was [[Trinity|Trinitarian]], but cautioned that a rule that held true only in the New Testament in all but the disputed cases was too flimsy a ground on which to try to prove the divinity of Christ to the Socinians (Unitarians). Instead he said, "[I think] there are much more cogent arguments in reserve, when [Sharp's] rule of interpretation shall be abandoned."<ref>Winstanley, p. 42</ref> His biggest criticisms of Sharp's rule rest in the fact that 1) the early church fathers do not follow it and 2) the early church fathers never invoked this rule to prove the divinity of Christ (though it would have been an obvious tool against such heresy).  He concludes, "Hence it may be presumed that the doctrine then rested on other grounds."<ref>Winstanley, p. 43</ref>

However, just because Wallace exaggerates Winstanley's concession does not mean that he has no evidence to refute Winstanley. Wallace argues that, for various reasons, the only two passages from Granville's eight that truly follow Sharp's rule (for textual reasons, among others) are [[Epistle to Titus|Titus]] 2:13 and [[Second Epistle of Peter|2 Peter]] 1:1.<ref name="Wallace">[http://bible.org/article/sharp-redivivus-reexamination-granville-sharp-rule ''Sharp Redivivus'' by Wallace]</ref> Wallace interacts in depth with Winstanley's critiques of Sharp and shows from grammatical, textual, linguistic, and Patristic evidence that Sharp's rule is truly valid across Classical, Biblical, Papyrological, and Patristic Greek – with some slight modification to the rules.<ref name="Wallace"/> Here is how Wallace restates the issue:

"In native Greek constructions (i.e., not translation Greek), when a single article modifies two substantives connected by καί (thus, article-substantive-καί-substantive), when both substantives are (1) singular (both grammatically and semantically), (2) personal, (3) and common nouns (not proper names or ordinals), they have the same referent."<ref name="Wallace"/><ref>This essay by Wallace is a summary of his dissertation and he has developed it further by publishing the argument as a book: ''Granville Sharp's Canon and its Kin''</ref>

==Legacy==
[[File:Granville Sharp&#039;s tomb, All Saints, Fulham, Sep 2016 04.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Granville Sharp's tomb at [[All Saints Church, Fulham|All Saints', Fulham]], after restoration]]

[[File:Granville Sharp's tomb inscription.JPG|thumb|left|200px|Inscription on Granville Sharp's tomb]]

After his death on 6 July 1813, Granville Sharp was buried at [[All Saints Church, Fulham|All Saints' Church, Fulham]], beside his brother [[William Sharp (surgeon)|William Sharp]] and sister Elizabeth Prouse.  The inscription on his tomb states:

"Here by the Remains 
of the Brother and Sister whom he tenderly loved 
lie those of 
GRANVILLE SHARP Esqr. 
at the age of 79 this venerable Philanthropist 
terminated his Career 
of almost unparalleled activity and usefulness 
July 6th 1813 
''Leaving behind him a name'' 
''That will be Cherished with Affection and Gratitude''
''as long as any homage shall be paid to those principles''
''of JUSTICE HUMANITY and RELIGION''
''which for nearly half a Century''
''He promoted by his Exertions''
''and adorned by his Example''"

A [[reredos]] erected a generation later in All Saints' Church, Fulham, reads: "This reredos was erected in 1845 to the honor of God and in memory of William Sharp of Fulham House, Surgeon to King George III, Catherine his wife, daughter of Thomas Barwick, Granville Sharp, his brother..."<ref name=feret>[[Charles James Féret]], ''Fulham Old and New: being an Exhaustive History of the Ancient Parish of Fulham'' (vol. 1, 1900) p. 197</ref>

Sharp's portrait was made many times, both during his life and afterwards. The [[National Portrait Gallery, London]] holds seven portraits, including the large oil of ''The Sharp Family'' by [[Johann Zoffany]] and six pencil drawings, etchings and engravings. An oil portrait of Sharp by [[Mather Brown]] is in a private collection.<ref name=Sheppard/><ref>{{cite web | title = Granville Sharp (1735–1813), Scholar and philanthropist  | publisher = National Portrait Gallery | url = http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?search=ss&sText=granville+sharp&LinkID=mp04061 | access-date = 2008-12-19}}</ref>

As well as Granville Town in Sierra Leone, the [[Free Villages|free village]] of [[Granville, Jamaica|Granville]] in [[Jamaica]] was named after Sharp.<ref name=history>[http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20140721/lead/lead3.html Rise & Fall Of Granville], 21 July 2014, The Gleaner, Retrieved 3 September 2015</ref>

A memorial to Sharp was erected in [[Westminster Abbey]], and he features in carved [[bas-relief]] on the side of the [[Clarkson Memorial]], [[Wisbech]], a memorial to fellow-abolitionist [[Thomas Clarkson]] (1760–1846).

In 2007, the Royal Mail issued a set of stamps to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the United Kingdom. Sharp featured on the 50p stamp.<ref>{{cite web| title =Abolition of the Slave Trade – 22 March 2007. A great date in history| publisher =Royal Mail| date =2007-03-22| url =http://www.royalmail.com/portal/stamps/content1?catId=47000688&mediaId=47000690| archive-url =https://archive.today/20120911000652/http://www.royalmail.com/portal/stamps/content1?catId=47000688&mediaId=47000690| url-status =dead| archive-date =11 September 2012| access-date =2008-12-19}}</ref>

In 2007, Sharp's tomb in the graveyard of All Saints', Fulham was also restored to coincide with the anniversary. In recognition of Sharp's historical importance and preparation for the anniversary, the tomb was [[listed building|listed]] as Grade II on 16 March 2007, only three months after the application was made to [[English Heritage]] and the [[Department of Culture, Media and Sport]].  The tomb was restored in June 2007<ref name=Sheppard/> and a ceremony to mark the completion of the work was held in the church, attended by many notable figures including the historian [[Simon Schama]].  Speaking at the service, Schama said that "Sharp's great contribution was to 'lower the threshold of shame' in society."<ref>{{cite web | title = Granville Sharp tomb restoration, Fulham, London | publisher = Minerva Stone Conservation | url = http://www.minervaconservation.com/projects/granville.html | access-date = 2008-12-19}}</ref>

Granville Sharp's papers are deposited at the [[Gloucestershire Archives]], reference D3549.  There is also a substantial collection of his letters at [[York Minster]] Library. His 'entire library' was sold at auction by Leigh & Sotheby in London on 22 November 1813 (and seven following days) in 1875 lots, although he gave some books to the Bible Society Library during his lifetime (now deposited at Cambridge University Library); a copy of the sale catalogue is held at Cambridge University Library (shelfmark Munby.c.160(7)). His collection of 'music, printed and in manuscript' was sold by Leigh & Sotheby in London on 7 February 1814 (and two following days); a copy is at Cambridge University Library (shelfmark Munby.c.162(5)).{{Cn|date=January 2025}}

Among the papers at Gloucestershire Archives is a transcription of a [[work song]] sung by enslaved Africans in the sugar-cane fields of Barbados. Sharp wrote down the music and lyrics reported by William Dickson, who had heard the song while in Barbados as secretary to the governor.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web |date=18 July 2016 |title=An African Work Song, Barbados, ca. 1770s-1780s |url=https://slaveryimages.org/database/image-result.php?objectid=288 |access-date=2025-01-03 |website=slaveryimages.org}}</ref> The manuscript, "[[An African Song or Chant from Barbados]]", is the oldest notation of a piece of music from the island.<ref name=":22">{{Cite web |title=Slave song |url=https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/archives/our-projects/slave-song/ |access-date=2025-01-09 |website=Gloucestershire Archives}}</ref> In 2017, the manuscript was given [[Memory of the World Programme|UNESCO Memory of the World]] status, recognising documentary heritage of global importance.<ref name=":32">{{Cite web |title=An African Song or Chant from Barbados |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/african-song-or-chant-barbados |access-date=2025-01-09 |website=UNESCO Memory of the World Programme}}</ref>

==Works==
Notable publications are in bold.
*1765 ''An Answer to the Rev. Dr. Kennicot's Charge of Corruptions in the Hebrew Texts of Ezra and Nehemiah
*1767 ''A Short Introduction to Vocal Musick''
*1767 ''On the Pronunciation of the English Tongue''
*1768 ''Remarks on Several Important Prophecies ...''
*1769 '''''A Representation of the Injustice and Dangerous Tendency of Tolerating Slavery ...''''', the first tract in England attacking slavery
*1771 '''''An Appendix to the Representation''''', reinforcing his case against slavery
*1771 ''Remarks Concerning Encroachments on the River Thames''
*1773 ''Remarks ... against Duelling''
*1774 '''''A Declaration of the People's Natural Right to a Share in the Legislature''''', in support of the American colonists
*1775 '''''A Declaration of the People's Natural Right ...''''', in support of both Americans and Irish
*1776 ''The Law of Retribution''
*1776 '''''The Just Limitation of Slavery in the Laws of God'''''
*1776 ''The Laws of Passive Obedience''
*1776 ''The Laws of Liberty''
*1777 preface to [[James Oglethorpe|General James Oglethorpe]]'s ''The Sailor's Advocate'', an attack on [[Impressment|press gang]]s
*1777 ''The Laws of Nature''
*1777 ''The Case of Saul''
*1778 ''An Address to the People of England ... stating the Illegality of impressing Seamen''
*1779 ''The Doctrine of 'Nullum Tempus occurrit Regi' Explained ...''
*1780 seven tracts on '''''The Legal Means of Political Reformation'''''
*1781 seven tracts on ''Free Militia''
*1784 ''An Account of the Ancient Division of the English Nation into Hundreds and Tythings''
*1784 ''Congregational Courts and the ancient English Constitution of Frankpledge''
*1784 ''A Tract on the Election of Bishops''
*1786 ''An English Alphabet for the Use of Foreigners''
*1786 '''''Regulations for a New Settlement of Sierra Leone'''''
*1790 '''''Free English Territory in Africa'''''
*1790 ''Plan of a Public Charity''
*1791 ''A Letter ... (on) the State of the London Workhouse''
*1792 ''Causes des Calamités publiques qui régnent à présent par toute l'Étendue de L'Empire Romain''
*1792 ''A Collection of Political Papers, with Remarks on the Accomplishment of Prophecies''
*1793 '''''A Letter to a Gentleman in Maryland respecting the extreme Wickedness of tolerating the Slave Trade ...'''''
*1794 ''[https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecco;cc=ecco;rgn=div1;view=toc;idno=004800947.0001.000;node=004800947.0001.000:4 A General plan for laying out Towns and Townships in new-acquired Lands ...]''
*1798 '''''Remarks on the Uses of the Definitive Article in the Greek Text of the New Testament, Containing Many New Proofs of the Divinity of Christ, from Passages Which Are Wrongly Translated in the Common English Version''''', which contains the grammatical principle still known as "Sharp's Rule"
*1801 ''The Child's First Book improved, with a Preface addressed to Mothers and Teachers''
*1801 ''An Answer to an anonymous Letter on Pre-Destination and Free-will, with a Postscript on Eternal Punishments''
*1801 ''Extract of a Letter on Land-Carriages, Roads, and profitable Labour of Oxen''
*1804 three tracts on ''The Syntax and Pronunciation of the Hebrew Tongue''
*1805 ''An Inquiry whether the Description of Babylon ... agrees perfectly with Rome, as a City etc. ...''
*1805 ''A Letter ... respecting the proposed Catholic Emancipation''
*1805 '''''Serious Reflections on the Slave Trade and Slavery Addressed to the Peers of Great Britain'''''
*1806 ''A Dissertation on the supreme Divine Dignity of the Messiah''
*1806 ''Remarks on the two last Petitions in the Lord's Prayer ...''
*1807 ''The System of Colonial Law compared with the eternal Laws of God, and with the Indispensable Principles of the British Constitution''
*1807 ''A Letter in Answer to some of the leading Principles and Doctrines of the People called Quakers''
*1807 ''The Case of Saul, to which is added a short tract wherein the Influence of Demons is further illustrated''
*1808 ''Jerusalem ... respecting the Etymology of that Word''
*1810 ''Melchisedec; or an Answer to a Question respecting the Reality of Melchisedec's Existence, as King of Salem and priest of the Most High God''
*1811 ''Modus Decimandi''
*1812 ''Remarks on an important Passage, Matt. xxi. 18, which has long been perverted by the Church of Rome in Support of her vain Pretensions to supreme Dominion over all other Episcopal Churches''

==See also==
* [[List of abolitionist forerunners]]
* [[Mary Sharp]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|32em}}

==References==
* [[Prince Hoare (younger)|Hoare, Prince]], ''Memoirs of Granville Sharp, Esq., Composed from his own Manuscripts and Other Authentic Documents in the Possession of his Family and of the African Institution'' London, 1820 (2nd edition of 1828 online at [https://books.google.com/books?id=_LIEAAAAYAAJ&q=Prince+Hoare+granville+sharp]
*Hochschild, Adam,  ''Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire’s Slaves'' (Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 2006), 467 pp., paperback: {{ISBN|978-0-618-61907-8}}
* Lascelles, Edward Charles Ponsonby, 1928, ''Granville Sharp and the Freedom of the Slaves in England'' Oxford University Press
* Nadelhaft, Jerome, 1966,  "The Somersett Case and Slavery: Myth, Reality, and Repercussions" in ''Journal of Negro History,'' Vol. 51, No. 3 (Jul., 1966), pp.&nbsp;193–208
* Pollard, Albert Frederick, {{DNB Cite|wstitle=Sharp, Granville}}
* Stuart, Charles, 1836, ''A Memoir of Granville Sharp''  New York: [[American Anti-Slavery Society|The American Anti-Slavery Society]]
* Winstanley, Calvin. ''A Vindication of Certain Passages in the Common English Version of the New Testament: Addressed to Granville Sharp, Esq.'' Cambridge University Press, 1819 (2nd ed).  Online at: [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Winstanley.pdf].
* Wise, Steven M., 2005, ''Though The Heavens May Fall: The Landmark Trial That Led To The End Of Human Slavery''
*{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Sharp, Granville|volume=24|pages=809–810}}
*{{NIE}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{wikisource author}}
*[https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/sharp_granville.shtml BBC biography]
*[http://www.brycchancarey.com/abolition/sharp.htm Granville Sharp – Short Biography by Carey Brycchan]
*[http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=19007 Granville Sharp and the ''Zong''] {{Webarchive|url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20111001110214/http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=19007 |date=1 October 2011 }}
*[http://www.spartacus-educational.com/REsharp.htm Spartacus Schoolnet on Granville Sharp]
*[http://www.biblefood.com/and2.html#sharpplurals The complete Granville Sharp Rule Number 1 and examples of plural nouns that agree with Rule number 1]
*[http://www.biblefood.com/and2.html#sharppdf Read or download Granville Sharp's Book]
*[https://mises.org/journals/jls/4_2/4_2_7.pdf ''In Favorem Libertatis'': The Life and Work of Granville Sharp], by Carl Watner, in ''The Journal of Libertarian Studies'', Vol. IV. No. 2 (Spring 1980)
*{{IMSLP|id=Sharp, Granville}}
* {{Librivox author |id=16400}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, Granville}}
[[Category:1735 births]]
[[Category:1813 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials at All Saints Church, Fulham]]
[[Category:Clapham Sect]]
[[Category:English abolitionists]]
[[Category:People educated at Durham School]]
[[Category:People from Durham, England]]
[[Category:Sierra Leone Creole history]]
[[Category:Writers from Durham, England]]