Walter Richard Sharp

• Born  :  10 November 1859 at Paxford, Worcestershire (now Gloucestershire)
• Married (1) :  Ada Simpole
• Married (II)  :  Fanny Rounds
• Died  :  31 August 1931 at St Anne’s on Sea
• Burial  :  St Anne’s Church, St Anne’s on Sea

 Walter Richard Sharp was born in 1859 in Paxford, Worcestershire the youngest son of Mary and Benjamin Sharp of The Laurel. His father was a builder employing two men. He was educated at Chipping Camden Grammar School, and received his early architectural training with his elder brother, James P Sharp, in Birmingham. No evidence has been found that his father ever practised as an architect, being listed as a retired builder at Paxford in the Census return for 1881. Walter Richard Sharp moved to Manchester where he found employment as an assistant on the office of John Wynne from 1878 until 1883 when he set up independent practice, initially from offices in St Mary’s Gate. Sharp designed several buildings for the Methodist church in Salford and Manchester during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These include the Gravel Lane Wesleyan Chapel and adjoining house in Salford (1892) the Victoria Hall, Ancoats (1897) and the Bridgewater Hall in Hulme (1898).  After the First World War Walter Sharp entered into partnership with Gerald Cowburn, a partnership which lasted until Walter Sharp’s death in 1931.

 In 1882 he married Ada Simpole (died 1928) in Manchester. Following her death, he married (II) Fanny Rounds in 1929.

 Walter Richard Sharp died on 31 August 1931, after a long illness, and was interred at St Anne’s Parish Church St Anne’s-on-the-Sea. He was survived by his widow, Fanny Sharp.

Address
1886-1897    Walter R Sharp. land agent and architect, 13 Arcade Chambers, St Mary’s Gate
1898-1905    Walter R Sharp FMSA. architect and surveyor. 11 Mawson Chambers, 28 Deansgate
1906-1910    Walter R Sharp FMSA. architect and surveyor.  40, South King Street
1911-1920    Walter R Sharp FMSA. LRIBA architect and surveyor. 40, South King Street (RIBA)
1921-1931    Walter R Sharp FMSA. LRIBA (W R Sharp & Cowburn) arch & surveyors. 40, South King Street

Residence
1881-1882    30, Lower Broughton Road, Broughton in Salford (Census)
1886-1891    104, Trafalgar Street Lower Broughton
1893-1904    Priory Terrace 346 Lower Broughton Road Higher Broughton
1894-1902    “Paxford,” 306 Lower Broughton Road, Higher Broughton
1903-1905    “Paxford,”Victoria Road, St Anne’s on Sea
1906-1913    “Paxford,”York Road, St Anne’s on Sea
1921-1929    “Paxford,”179, St Andrew’s Road South, St Anne’s on Sea