Edmund Sharpe

Edmund Sharpe (1809–1877), architect and engineer

1809 Born on 31 October in Knutsford, Cheshire, the only son of Francis and Martha Sharpe.

Educated locally, then at Dr Burney's school at Greenwich, Sedbergh School, and St John's College, Cambridge.

1832 Awarded a Worts travelling fellowship, which he devoted to the study of architecture, mainly in France and Germany

1835 he settled in Lancaster and practised as an architect for fifteen years.

1836 MA Cantab

His first involvement in promoting railways was in the 1830s, including construction of the portion of the Midland Railway from Morecambe to Skipton.

1841 elected to Lancaster council

1843 he married Elizabeth Fletcher (d. 1876), they had three sons and two daughters.

1845 Took E. G. Paley into partnership. They erected nearly forty new churches, as well several secular buildings.

1848-9 mayor of Lancaster

1848 fellow of RIBA

1850 he purchased the Phoenix foundry in Lancaster - the business became Sharpe and Co

1851 withdrew from architecture.

1856 he went to live at near Betws-y-coed, Caernarvonshire, where he organized the building of the Conwy - Llanrwst Railway.

1863 to 1866 Sharpe lived abroad, constructing a horse-drawn tramway in Geneva and the Perpignan–Prades railway in south-west France.

1867 returned to Lancaster

1875 received the gold medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects

1877 Died in Milan

Sources of Information