Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 3.djvu/307

 to greater advantage in biography. In 1895 he published a life of his intimate friend, Sir [q. v. Suppl. I], which reached a second edition. 'Old World Travel' (1903) and 'Days of the Past' (1905), consisting mainly of later sketches in the 'Saturday Review,' give a charming picture of Shand's character, of his capacity for making friends with 'poachers, gamekeepers, railway guards, coach drivers, railway porters, and Swiss guides,' and of his experience of London clubs, where he was at home in all circles. A tory of the old school, he united strong personal convictions with large-hearted tolerance. Among his friends were George Meredith, Laurence Oliphant, and George Smith the publisher. He was devoted to children and all animals, especially dogs, was a fine rider, good shot, and expert angler. He knew how to cook the game he killed, and wrote well on culinary matters.

In 1893 he was British commissioner with Sir Philip Cunliffe Owen at the Paris Exhibition. He was busily engaged in writing till his death, which took place on 20 Sept. 1907 at Edenbridge, Kent. He was buried in the churchyard of Crookham Hill. He married on 25 July 1865 Elizabeth Blanche, daughter of William Champion Streatfeild, of Chart's Edge, Westerham, Kent. She died on 6 June 1882, leaving no children.

Shand published, besides the works mentioned: There came out posthumously:  'Soldiers of Fortune,' 1907.  'Memories of Gardens ' (his last sketches in the 'Saturday Review'), 1908. Shand also contributed chapters on 'Cookery' to 8 vols. of the 'Fur, Fin, and Feather' series (1898-1905), and prefixed a memoir to Kinglake's 'Eothen' (1890 edition).
 * 1) 'Against Time,' a novel, 1870.
 * 2) 'Shooting the Rapids,' a novel, 1872.
 * 3) 'Letters from the Highlands,' 1884.
 * 4) 'Letters from the West of Ireland,' 1885.
 * 5) 'Fortune's Wheel,' a novel, 1886.
 * 6) 'Half a Century,' 1887.
 * 7) 'Kilcurra,' a novel, 1891.
 * 8) 'Mountain, Stream and Covert,' 1897.
 * 9) 'The Lady Grange,' a novel, 1897.
 * 10) 'The War in the Peninsula,' 1898.
 * 11) 'Shooting' (in 'Haddon Hall Library'), in collaboration, 1899.
 * 12) 'Life of General John Jacob,' 1900.
 * 13) 'Wellington's Lieutenants,' 1902.
 * 14) 'The Gun Room,' 1903.
 * 15) 'Dogs' (in 'Young England Library'), 1903.

 SHARP, WILLIAM, writing also under the pseudonym of (1855–1905), romanticist, born at Paisley, on 12 Sept. 1855, was eldest son of David Galbraith Sharp, partner in a mercantile house, by his wife Katherine, eldest daughter of William Brooks, Swedish vice-consul at Glasgow. The Sharp family came originally from near Dunblane, his mother was partly of Celtic descent, but he owed his peculiar Celtic predilections either to the stories and songs of his Highland nurse or to visits three or four months each year to the shores of the western highlands. After receiving his early education at home he went to Blair Lodge school, from which with some companions he ran away thrice, the last time in a vain attempt to get to sea as stowaways at Grangemouth. In his twelfth year the family removed to Glasgow, and he went as day scholar to the Glasgow Academy. At the University of Glasgow, which he entered in 1871, he showed ability in the class of English literature; but it was mainly through access to the library that he found the university of advantage.

After spending a month or two with a band of gypsies, he was placed by his father, in 1874, in a lawyer's office in Glasgow, mainly with a view to discipline. While faithful to his office duties, he devoted himself to reading, the theatres, and similar diversions, allowing himself but four hours' sleep. After the death of his father in 1876 consumption threatened, and he went on a sailing voyage to Australia. Although he enjoyed a tour in the interior, the colonist's rough life was uncongenial, and he returned to Scotland resolved to 'be a poet and write about Mother Nature and her inner mysteries.' Without means or prospects, he was about to join the Turkish army against Russia in 1878 when a friend procured him a clerkship in London at the City of Melbourne Bank. Meanwhile he began to contribute verses to periodicals, and in 1881 he had the 'extraordinary good fortune' of obtaining from Sir Noel Paton an introduction to Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who encouraged him with kindly criticism and advice. Through Rossetti he obtained access to many 'literary houses' (see Life, p. 53). Failing to satisfy the requirements of the bank, he obtained a temporary post in the Fine Art Society's gallery in Bond Street; but soon depending wholly