Richard Sharp (politician) - London Institution

London Institution

Richard Sharp’s exceptional shrewdness and eloquence were frequently aimed at bringing about some tangible outcome or change, and nowhere was this more the case than with regard to the formation of the London Institution. One commentator is in no doubt that this man's particular role was pivotal in the establishment of this important Institution when he wrote that it was…

...chiefly owing to his influences and exertions that the London Institute (sic) for the improvement of Science and Literature has been established.

As a pioneer and champion of adult education, Sharp’s initiative predates that of his better known contemporary, George Birkbeck, whose Mechanics' Institutes only developed in Glasgow, London and elsewhere from the 1820s onwards. Like Sharp, Birkbeck was from a dissenter background and both were committed to making education more democratically available. Indeed, history would show that many of the founders of the London Institution would be those who joined with Thomas Campbell and Henry Brougham to found a new University for London incorporating Birkbeck's Mechanics' Institute as Birkbeck College.

At the very beginning of its life, Richard Sharp was a member of the Institution’s Temporary Management Committee and he remained a Manager for most of his life. In 1810 he served as their Chairman, resigning from this position on 10 September 1812, and for the years 1827 and 1831 he was Vice-President. Throughout his long period of office he was brought into contact with many leading artists, thinkers and men of science, and as his interest in education grew he supported Whitbread’s move for a proper system of state education as well as Henry Brougham’s drive for a fully-fledged city University.