Granville
Sharp
was born in Durham in 1735. The son of an archdeacon, and the grandson
of the Archbishop of York, Sharp decided against a career in the Church
of England and instead served an apprenticeship in London
as a linen-draper. The work did not satisfy him and in 1758 obtain
a post as a clerk in the civil service.
In 1765 Sharp was living with his brother, a surgeon in Wapping, East
London. One day Jonathan
Strong, a black man, arrived at the house. Strong was a slave who
had been so badly beaten by his master, David Lisle, that he was close
to death. Sharp took Strong to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where he
had to spend four months recovering from his injuries. Strong told
Sharp how Lisle, had brought him to England from Barbados. Lisle had
apparently been dissatisfied with Strong's services and after beating
him with his pistol, had thrown him onto the streets.
After Jonathan Strong had regained his health, David Lisle paid two
men to recapture him. When Sharp heard the news he took Lisle to court
claiming that as Strong was in England he was no longer a slave. However,
it was not until 1768 that the courts ruled in Strong's favour. The
case received national publicity and Sharp was able to use this in
his campaign against slavery. He also took up the cases of other slaves
such as Thomas Lewis and James Somersett, and convinced the courts
that "as soon as any slave sets foot upon English
territory, he becomes free."
Granville Sharp developed radical political opinions about other issues
as well. He argued in favour of parliamentary
reform and an increase in the low wages paid to farm labourers.
Sharp also supported the American colonists against the British government
and as a result, had to resign from the civil service in 1776.
In 1787 Sharp and his friend Thomas Clarkson
decided to form the Society for the Abolition
of the Slave Trade. Although Sharp and Clarkson were both Anglicans,
nine out of the twelve members on the committee, were Quakers.
Influential figures such as John Wesley
and Josiah Wedgwood gave their support
to the campaign. Later they persuaded William
Wilberforce, the MP for Hull, to be their
spokesman in the House of Commons.
Thomas
Clarkson
was given the responsibility of collecting information to support
the abolition of the slave trade. This included interviewing 20,000
sailors and obtaining equipment used on the slave-ships such as iron
handcuffs, leg-shackles, thumb screws, instruments for forcing open
slave's jaws and branding irons. In 1787 he published his pamphlet,
A
Summary View of the Slave Trade and of the Probable Consequences of
Its Abolition.
After the passing of the Abolition of the
Slave Trade Act in 1807 Sharp joined with Thomas
Clarkson and Thomas Fowell Buxton to
form the Society for the Mitigation and
Gradual Abolition of Slavery. However, Granville
Sharp was not to see the final abolition of slavery as he died on
6th July, 1813.
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