Evelyn Sharp, Baroness Sharp

The Right Honourable
The Baroness Sharp
GBE
Born Evelyn Adelaide Sharp
25 May 1903
Hornsey, Middlesex, England, UK
Died 1 September 1985 (aged 82)
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England, UK
Occupation Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Local Government

Evelyn Adelaide Sharp, Baroness Sharp, GBE (1903–1985) was a British civil servant and the first woman to hold the position of Permanent Secretary, the most senior civil servant in a Ministry.[1]

Early life

Sharp was born on 25 May 1903 in Hornsey, Middlesex (now part of Haringey in north London). Her parents were the Reverend Charles James Sharp, the Vicar of Ealing, and his wife, the former Mary Frances Musgrave.[1] She was educated at St Paul's Girls' School where she captained the school at both cricket and netball. In 1922 she moved to Somerville College, Oxford, where she obtained a second in Modern History.[1]

Civil and public service

In 1926 she joined the civil service as an administrator, at first in the Board of Trade then the Ministry of Health. The Ministry of Health at the time was concerned with local government and this soon became her specialty. 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.

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. She held the post to her retirement in 1966.[1]

From 1964 her Minister was the Labour minister Richard Crossman, who described his battles with her in the first of his three-volume Diaries of a Cabinet Minister.[2] When she retired as Permanent Secretary in 1966 she became a member of the Independent Broadcasting Authority, remaining there until 1973.

She was the author of a 1970 report to the Minister of Transport called Transport Planning: The Men For The Job. The intention of this report was to make transport planning in local government more efficient; the report discussed how to organise transport planning and what university courses would be needed to supply sufficient engineers and technicians to perform the work. However, the report is remembered because it clearly stated that transport planning and land-use planning could not be separated and should be performed by a single department as an ongoing activity.

Honours

In 1948, she was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE).[3] In 1961, she was elevated to Dame Grand Cross of the same order (GBE).[4][1]On 19 September 1968 she was created a life peer as Baroness Sharp, of Hornsey in Greater London.[5]

Death

Baroness Sharp died, aged 82, on 1 September 1985.[1]

References

[1]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 "Baroness Sharp" (Obituaries). The Times (London). Wednesday, 4 September 1985. (62234), col F, p. 14.
  2. ↑ Crossman, Richard (1979). Diaries of a Cabinet Minister: Selections, 1964–70. London: Hamish Hamilton Ltd. ISBN 0-241-10142-5.
  3. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 38311. p. 3373. 10 June 1948.
  4. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 42370. p. 4152. 10 June 1961.
  5. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 44117. p. 10171. 20 SEptember 1966.

External links