Daniel Sharp

Biography Portrait of Daniel Sharp, 19th centurySharp was born December 25, 1783, in Huddersfield in West Riding of Yorkshire, England. His father was a Baptist pastor. Daniel was a member of the Congregational Church when, after some success in business, he emigrated to the United States in 1806 and soon joined the Baptists. He studied theology with Dr. William Staughton in Philadelphia beginning in March 1807 and was ordained pastor of the First Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey, in 1809. Sharp received a Master of Arts from Brown University in 1811.

Sharp became pastor of Charles Street Baptist Church in Boston in 1812, having previously been invited to preach there in 1809 and 1811. He was a fellow of the corporation of Brown University and a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard University.

Sharp was a member and at times a vice president of the American Peace Society, which sought non-violent resolution to international conflicts. Though many Baptist pastors thought differently, he opposed the Mexican–American War and in June 1846, shortly after the U.S. declared war, he published a "Discourse on Peace" that called it "a war for southern territory, waged against justice, against humanity, and against the voice of God."

His health declined in 1852 and his service as pastor in Boston ended about 1853 when he traveled south seeking warmer weather. He died on June 23, 1853, at the home of Robert P. Brown in the village of Stoneleigh, in Baltimore, Maryland.

Sharp received a Doctor of Divinity degree (D.D.) from Brown University in 1828 and from Harvard University in 1843. He was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.