Granville saxton biography of abraham

Sharp, Granville

Born: 1735-11-10 England, United Kingdom

Died: 1813-07-06 London, United Kingdom

Born in Durham, England, Granville Sharp was a civil servant, scholar, writer, philanthropist, and abolitionist.

Although apprenticed to a draper as a young man, he entered the British civil service in 1758. He taught himself Greek and Hebrew and, over time, became interested in biblical criticism, publishing several scholarly treatises on the topic.

His interest in abolitionism also grew over time, particularly after he aided an enslaved man named Jonathan Strong beginning in 1765 and learned that, per British law, enslaved people remained enslaved even on English soil.

Sharp used his skills as a writer, researcher, and scholar as well as legal means to press the British courts to overturn this law, which they did in 1772 in a renowned case involving James Somersett, another enslaved man whom Sharp personally aided.

In the case, the courts ruled that enslaved persons were fr