SHARP, Gerald (1865-1933)

anglican archbishop of Brisbane

son of Thomas Blatt Sharp, was born at Hooton, Cheshire, England, on 27 October 1865. Educated at Manchester Grammar School, he went on to St John's College, Cambridge, with a scholarship in 1883, and graduated B.A. in 1886 with honours in classics. He entered Lincoln theological college in 1888, and was ordained deacon in 1889 and priest in 1890. He was a curate of Rowbarton 1889-93 and at Hammersmith 1893-8, became vicar of Whitkirk, Yorkshire, in 1898, and in 1909 was proctor of convocation, archdeaconry of Ripon. He was consecrated bishop of New Guinea on 25 April 1910. He attended the Lambeth conference in 1920 and in 1921 was elected archbishop of Brisbane in succession to Archbishop Donaldson (q.v.). He was enthroned at St John's cathedral, Brisbane, on 16 November 1921, and was active in every movement for the good of his church and the state. He was a member of the university senate from 1923 and was several times president of the Brisbane branch of the League of Nations Union. He attended the Lambeth conference in 1930 and in 1933 was acting-primate of Australia. He died on 30 August of that year. He was unmarried.

Sharp was a missionary bishop. He was kindly and charitable and much interested in social work. He would have been the last to think of himself as a great preacher or a great organizer, but his sincerity, kindliness and piety made him a force in Queensland, and he was sincerely regretted in his own church and outside it.

Crockford, 1933; The Courier-Mail, Brisbane, 31 August 1933; The Daily Standard, Brisbane. 30 August 1933; Who's Who in Australia, 1933.