Anthony Sharp (1643–1707) was a
DublinQuaker and wool merchant.
Early life
Anthony Sharp, the son of Thomas Sharp, was born in
Tetbury, Gloucestershire, England in January 1643.[1]
Religion and business
In 1665, impressed by the ministry of
William Dewsbury at a meeting in Warwick prison, he joined the
Religious Society of Friends, also known as the
Quakers.[2] In the summer or early fall of 1669, due to persecution of his Quaker religious beliefs, he fled from
Gloucestershire and moved to
Dublin and engaged in the woollen trade,[3] in which he was highly successful. By 1680, he employed about 500 workers in the trade and in 1688, the weavers’
guild elected him master.[4]
Anthony Sharp was active in the Dublin Quaker Community.[5] In 1683, he and some other Friends of Dublin were thrown into prison because they continued to attend their religious meetings, contrary to the orders of government which prohibited the public meetings of religious dissenters.[6]
Land rights
Anthony Sharp was one of the original shareholders of
West Jersey in 1677. Subsequently, when
William Penn purchased land in
East Jersey, Sharp also became an owner of property there as well. Not wishing to emigrate himself due to his successful woollen business, Sharp remained in
Dublin. Anthony Sharp financed the Quaker colony established in the
Province of New Jersey in 1681.[7]
Among those appointed to found the colony was Anthony's nephew, Thomas Sharp,[8] with whom he corresponded on both business and personal matters.[9]
In his will, Anthony Sharp bequeathed to his eldest son,
Isaac Sharp, his land in
West Jersey, and half of his lands in
East Jersey, as well as his land in Queen's County, Ireland, including land in
Killinure, which became the site of the Sharp Roundwood Estate.[10]
Death and family
Anthony Sharp died on 13 January 1707, and was buried in the
ancient Friends' burying-ground adjacent to
St. Stephen's Green in the city of
Dublin.[11] He was survived by three sons,
Isaac, Joseph and Daniel, and one daughter, Rachel Sharp.[12] Anthony Sharp's father (born about 1603 in Tetbury, Gloucester, England) married Anthony's mother, Elizabeth Hookham on 27 Nov 1628 in Gloucester. Elizabeth Hookham was born about 1607 in Gloucester. They had 7 children William, Elizabeth, Elizabeth, Anthony, Isaac, Anis, and Thomas.
Biography published
Stanford University Press published a biography of Anthony Sharp by Richard L. Greaves titled, Dublin's Merchant-Quaker: Anthony Sharp and the Community of Friends, 1643–1707.[13]
Notes
^Grubb, Isabel (1927). Quakers in Ireland, 1654–1900. London: The Swarthmore Press, p. 40, 47
^Leadbeater, Mary (1823). Biographical Notices of Members of the Society of Friends who were Resident in Ireland. London: Harvey and Darton, pp. 119–120
^Clark, Peter and Gillespie, Raymond (2001). Two Capitals: London and Dublin, 1500–1840. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 234
^Hill, Jacqueline R. (1997). From Patriots to Unionists. Dublin Civic Politics and Irish Protestant Patriotism, 1660–1840. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 31
^Greaves, Richard L. (1998). Dublin's Merchant-Quaker: Anthony Sharp and the Community of Friends, 1643–1707. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, pp. 29–47
^Leadbeater, Biographical Notices of Members of the Society of Friends who were Resident in Ireland, pp. 119–120
^Hatton, Helen Elizabeth (1993). The Largest Amount of Good: Quaker Relief in Ireland, 1654–1921. Montreal: McGill-Queen's Press, p. 37
^Greaves, Dublin's Merchant-Quaker: Anthony Sharp and the Community of Friends, 1643–1707., p. 97
^The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Volume 28 (1904). Philadelphia: Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 113-114
^Greaves, Dublin's Merchant-Quaker: Anthony Sharp and the Community of Friends, 1643–1707., p. 255
^Shourds, Thomas (1876). History and Genealogy of Fenwick's Colony. Bridgeton, NJ: George F. Nixon, p. 245
^Greaves, Richard L. (1998). Dublin's Merchant-Quaker: Anthony Sharp and the Community of Friends, 1643–1707. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press
Bibliography
Clark, Peter; Raymond Gillespie (2001). Two Capitals: London and Dublin, 1500–1840. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
ISBN978-0-19-726247-4.
Clement, John (1877). Sketches of the first emigrant settlers in Newton Township, Old Gloucester County, West New Jersey. Camden: Sinnickson Chew
Greaves, Richard L. (1998). Dublin's merchant-Quaker: Anthony Sharp and the Community of Friends, 1643–1707. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
ISBN978-0-8047-3452-3.
Grubb, Isabel (1927). Quakers in Ireland, 1654–1900. London: The Swarthmore Press.
ISBN978-0-19-820635-4.
Hatton, Helen Elizabeth (1993). The Largest Amount of Good: Quaker Relief in Ireland, 1654–1921. Montreal: McGill-Queen's Press.
ISBN0-7735-0959-3.
Hill, Jacqueline R. (1997). From Patriots to Unionists. Dublin Civic Politics and Irish Protestant Patriotism, 1660–1840. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
ISBN0-19-820635-6.