Celebrating Northumberland's role in the abolition of slavery

Eldest Brother John Sharp was vicar of Hartburn from 1749 to 1792. Many people will have visited his rather spooky grotto down in Hartburn Dene and noticed the magnificent vicarage he built in the village.

John is now most celebrated for his work at Bamburgh, where he was trustee of the Lord Crewe’s Charity. He developed Bamburgh Castle as a proto-welfare state, installing, and running, amongst other things, a school, an infirmary, accommodation for shipwrecked people, and a mill for selling flour and grain at fair prices to Northumbrians.

Lord Crewe’s Charity is still going and has kindly provided funding to help with the events.

Whilst John was doing this, the youngest brother, Granville Sharp, was gaining a reputation in London for rescuing former slaves that were being kidnapped and sold back into slavery.

His work started when a slave boy, Jonathan Strong, who had been beaten almost to death by his “owner”, arrived at the door of the free clinic that another brother, William Sharp, a successful doctor, ran every morning in the City of London.

Granville, who was unemployed at the time, lived in William’s household and was incensed by what he saw. He worked with William and another of the brothers, James, to nurse Jonathan back to health and they found him a respectable position with an apothecary – only for him to be kidnapped and imprisoned by his former “owner” and sold to a Jamaica planter.

Granville rescued him again as he was imprisoned awaiting the passage to Jamaica and started a campaign to change the law to give slaves and former slaves the same rights as any other citizen of or visitor to the United Kingdom. He then took on the slave-owning establishment and succeeded in establishing a movement that got the infamous ‘triangular trade’ abolished.

Abolition became a family business for the Sharps and John’s involvement in Northumberland was to preach throughout the region against slavery in 1787 and 1788 and to raise significant funds in support of Granville’s work.

At the same time the Sharp family were highly sociable, liked a good party and were all accomplished musicians.

The community is celebrating this aspect of the family as well as the work on abolition in two events. The first is an evensong at John’s church, St Andrew’s Hartburn, on October 5, to be sung by the choir of Newcastle Cathedral, where John Sharp’s arresting words on abolition will be heard again for the first time in 200 years.

The service will be followed by tea and a talk from author Hester Grant, who wrote the book The Good Sharps, which tells the astonishing story of the Sharp family. All proceeds from the event will go to the Oswin Project, a cause that John Sharp would undoubtedly have supported.

The second event will be a concert from the Westerly Trio and soprano Anna Dias, to be held at St Andrew’s on October 11, celebrating the Sharps’ love of music and social activities.

The evensong is free to all. The concert is £25 per person, with funds raised for the Hartburn Community Project. The ticket price includes refreshments and canapes provided by the community project.

Further information can be found at www.mitfordandwansbeckchurches.com/about-1