| The Baroness Sharp | |
|---|---|
| Born | Evelyn Adelaide Sharp 25 May 1903 Hornsey, Middlesex, England |
| Died | 1 September 1985 (aged 82) Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England |
| Nationality | United Kingdom |
| Occupation | Civil Servant |
Evelyn Adelaide Sharp, Baroness Sharp of Hornsey (1903-1985) was a British civil servant and the first women to hold the position of Permanent Secretary, the most senior civil servant in a Ministry.[1]
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Sharp was born on 25 May 1903 in Hornsey, Middlesex, her parents were the Reverend Charles James Sharp, the Vicar of Ealing, and his wife, the former Mary Frances Musgrave.[1][2] She was educated at St Paul's Girls' School where she captained the school at both cricket and netball.[1] In 1922 she moved to Somerville College, Oxford, where she obtained a second in Modern History.[1]
In 1926 she joined the civil service as an administrator, at first in the Board of Trade then the Ministry of Health.[1] The Ministry of Health at the time was concerned with local government and this soon became her speciality.[1] During the Second World War she was seconded to the Treasury.[1] At the end of the war she became Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Town and Country Planning; within two years she was appointed a Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE).[1] When the Ministry of Housing and Local Government was formed she became the Deputy Secretary, in 1955 she was promoted to be the Permanent Secretary. Sharp had become the first woman to be in the highest executive position with a Ministry and she worked for five different Ministers during her time.[1] In 1961 was appointed a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of British Empire (GBE) and unusual honour for a civil servant.[1] She held the post to her retirement in 1966.[1]
When she retired in 1966 she became a member of the Independent Broadcasting Authority until 1973, in 1968 she created a life peer as Baroness Sharp of Hornsey.[1] Sharp died, aged 82, on 1 September 1985.[1]