Edmund Sharpe - Personal and Family Life

Personal and Family Life

On 27 July 1843 Sharpe married Elizabeth Fletcher, second sister of John Fletcher, at Bolton Parish Church. The couple had five children: Francis in 1845, Edmund junior (known as Ted) in 1847, Emily in 1849, Catherine (known as Kate) in 1850, and Alfred in 1853.

When Sharpe moved his family from Lancaster to live in North Wales in early 1856 he was aged 47. The seven years he spent there were later described, in a Memoir published in 1882 by the Architectural Association, as "perhaps the happiest years of his life". The family initially lived in a semi-detached house called Bron Haul near Betws-y-Coed, on what is now the A5 road. Two years later he bought a larger property called Coed-y-Celyn on the east bank of the River Lledr, about a mile south of Betws-y-Coed. After moving to Geneva, the family lived for about three years in a rented property called Richemont on the road from Geneva to Chêne-Bougeries. Finally in 1866 the family moved back to Lancaster to live in Scotforth, then a small village to the south of the town.

Elizabeth Sharpe died on 15 March 1876, a month after the consecration of St Paul, Scotforth where a plaque to her memory can be found in the chancel of the church. A year later, Sharpe travelled to northern Italy with his two daughters, his youngest son Alfred, and three research assistants, to make drawings of 12th-century churches in the region. During the trip he became seriously ill with a chest infection and died on 8 May, in or near Milan. His body was taken to Lancaster, where he was buried on 19 May, alongside his wife, in the municipal cemetery. "Glowing obituaries" were carried by the local newspapers and the architectural press, including The Builder, The Building News, and The Architect. His estate was valued at "under £14,000" (£980,000 as of 2013). A plaque to his memory was placed in the chancel of St Paul's, next to that of his wife.