1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sharp, John

SHARP, JOHN (1645-1714), English divine, archbishop of York, was born at Bradford on the 16th of February 1645, and was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge. He was ordained deacon and priest on August 12th 1667, and until 1676 was chaplain and tutor in the family of Sir Heneage Finch at Kensington House. Meanwhile he became archdeacon of Berkshire (1673), prebendary of Norwich, rector of St Giles's-in-the-Fields, and in 1681 dean of Norwich. In 1686, when chaplain to James II., he was suspended for ten months on a charge of having made some reflections on the king, and in 1688 was cited for refusing to read the declaration of indulgence. Under William and Mary he succeeded Tillotson as dean of Canterbury in 1689, and (after declining a choice of sees vacated by non-jurors who were his personal friends) followed Thomas Lamplugh as archbishop of York in 1691. He made a thorough investigation of the affairs of his see, and regulated the disordered chapter of Southwell. He preached at the coronation of Queen Anne and became her almoner and confidential adviser in matters of church and state. He welcomed the Armenian bishops who came to England in 1713, and corresponded with the Prussian court on the possibility of the Anglican liturgy as a means of reconciliation between Lutherans and Calvinists. He died at Bath on the 2nd of February 1714.