Sidney Sharp (1850-1923)
1851 living in Albury, Samuel Sharp 37, Esthara 33, Henry 13, Albert 8, Sidney 9 Months[1]
1881 Gun Powder Manufacturer, Master, living in Wonersh with his wife Ellen, 27[2]
1891 Electrical engineer, living in Kingston Surrey, with Ellen B Sharp 37, Evelyn M Sharp 9, Mildred B Sharp 7, Sidney L R Sharp 1, Vivian K Sharp under 2 Months[3]
1923 Obituary [4]
SIDNEY SHARP was born at Albury, Surrey, on 20th June 1850, and spent the early years of his business life in the old family business of gunpowder-making at the Chilworth Mills.
Relinquishing this in 1881, he took up the study of electrical engineering, and after completing the course at the Hanover Square School under Robert Hammond was entrusted with the charge of the electric lighting arrangements of the Oldham Exhibition.
In 1886 he commenced work on the contracting side with Mr. J. M. V. Money-Kent. One of their earliest undertakings was to install and run the electric light in the Houses of Parliament and about the same time in the Court Theatre.
Later work included the obtaining of Provisional Orders for Guildford and Kelvinside, and carrying through and running the electric lighting of those places, Mr. Sharp taking entire charge of Kelvinside until the Glasgow Corporation acquired it.
He then returned to Westminster and commenced practice in 1899 as a Consulting Engineer, his work including Netherne and Park Prewett Asylums and other public institutions, also Rossie Priory, Hardwicke Grange, Glamis Castle, and other country mansions, and in Ireland Maynooth College.
In January 1886 he joined with his brothers in founding "Brins," now "The British" Oxygen Company, a company whose enterprise and perseverance finally resulted in placing oxygen as a commercial product at the disposal of the engineering industries.
His death occurred on lot March 1923 at Ealing, in his seventy-third year, five months after his retirement from active work.
He became a Member of this Institution in 1898, and acted as Joint Honorary Auditor of the Benevolent Fund of this Institution from its inception in 1913.
He was also a Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers.
1923 Obituary [5]
SIDNEY SHARP was born in 1850 at Albury, Surrey, and died at Ealing on the 1st March, 1923. He was a son of Mr. Samuel Sharp of Tangleymere and was educated at Henley-on-Thames under Dr. Godby.
Early in his business career he went to South Africa, where for a time he was in a business firm in Port Elizabeth.
In 1870, in the great rush to the diamond fields, Mr. Sharp went up country with some friends, but not long afterwards returned to England to assist his father in the business of S. Sharp and Sons, Chilworth, Surrey, manufacturers of gunpowder.
In 1881 this business was voluntarily terminated, and Mr. Sidney Sharp decided to devote himself to electricity, which was just beginning to take its place in the engineering world. One of the earliest undertakings of which he had charge was the lighting of the Oldham Exhibition in 1884, subsequently being responsible for the installation of electric lighting plant at Ashton Court, Bristol.
In 1886 he entered into partnership with Mr. J. M. V. Money-Kent, and the firm of Sharp and Kent, in a practice lasting over some years, was responsible for electric generating stations, etc., at Holloway, Guildford, Kelvinside, etc., as well as the first plant in the Houses of Parliament.
The partnership being dissolved and the Kelvinside station having been taken over by the Glasgow Corporation, Mr. Sharp returned in 1898 from that city, where he had resided for some time, to London, taking up his residence in Ealing and continuing a consulting practice in Victoria-street, Westminster, where he became well known. His work was mainly concerned with the installation of lighting and other plant in large institutions, etc., and in this direction he was responsible for installations at Netherne County Asylum, Park Prevett County Asylum, Maynooth College, Hardwicke Grange (for the late Mr. Frank Bibby) and Rossie Priory (the late Lord Kinnaird), etc.
He was for long an active member of the Institution, having joined in 1886 as an Associate, and becoming a Member in 1891. He served on the Council in 1890. He was also one of the Honorary Auditors, and did much valuable work and devoted a great deal of time to the affairs of the Institution, on the occasion of a vacancy in the secretaryship, which lasted for some time. He was also a Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and Honorary Secretary of the Dynamicables, a circle in which the genuine and genial traits of his character were much appreciated. He retired from business in September 1922 owing to his health, which he felt latterly was at times not equal to the demands of the work in which he was accustomed to engage.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ 1851 census
- ↑ 1881 census
- ↑ 1891 census
- ↑ 1923 Institution of Mechanical Engineers: Obituaries
- ↑ 1923 Institution of Electrical Engineers: Obituaries