{{Short description|British civil servant (1903–1985)}} {{other people|Evelyn Sharp}} {{Use British English|date=March 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = [[The Right Honourable]] | name = The Baroness Sharp | honorific_suffix = [[Order of the British Empire|GBE]] | image = Evelyn Sharp, Baroness Sharp, in 1950.jpg | caption = Sharp in 1950 | birth_name = Evelyn Adelaide Sharp | birth_date = {{birth date|1903|5|25|df=yes}} | birth_place = [[Hornsey]], [[Middlesex]], [[England]], UK | death_date = {{death date and age|1985|9|1|1903|5|25|df=yes}} | death_place = [[Lavenham]], [[Suffolk]], [[England]], UK | occupation = Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Local Government | relatives = [[Richard Harvey (priest)|Richard Harvey]] (uncle)<br/>[[John Musgrave Harvey|Sir John Harvey]] (uncle)<br/>[[Ernest Musgrave Harvey|Sir Ernest Harvey]] (uncle) }}
'''Evelyn Adelaide Sharp, Baroness Sharp''', [[Order of the British Empire|GBE]] (25 May 1903 – 1 September 1985) was a British civil servant. She was the first woman to hold the position of [[Permanent Secretary]], the most senior civil servant in a [[Ministry (government department)|Ministry]], at the [[Ministry of Housing and Local Government]] from 1955 to her retirement in 1966.<ref name="obit">{{Cite newspaper The Times|title=Baroness Sharp|department=Obituaries|date=4 September 1985|page=14|issue=62234|column=F}}</ref><ref name="odnb">Theakston, Kevin. ‘Sharp, Evelyn Adelaide, Baroness Sharp (1903–1985)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2011 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/31672] Accessed 19 June 2015.</ref>
==Early life== Sharp was born in [[Hornsey]], Middlesex (now part of [[London Borough of Haringey|Haringey]] in north London). She was the third of five children, with three sisters and a younger brother. Her parents were the Reverend Charles James Sharp, the Vicar of [[Ealing]], and his wife, Mary Frances Musgrave Harvey. Her uncles included [[Richard Harvey (priest)|Richard Harvey]], Archdeacon of Halifax; [[John Musgrave Harvey|Sir John Harvey]], Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales; and [[Ernest Musgrave Harvey|Sir Ernest Harvey, Bt]], Chief Cashier of the Bank of England.<ref name="obit"/><ref name=odnb/>
She was educated at Dana House in [[Crouch Hill]], and the [[North London Collegiate School]]. At [[St Paul's Girls' School]], she captained both cricket and netball teams. In 1922 she moved to [[Somerville College, Oxford]], graduating with a second in Modern History in 1925.<ref name="obit"/><ref name=odnb/>
==Civil and public service== In 1926, she joined the [[Civil Service (United Kingdom)|Civil Service]] as an administrator, at first in the [[Board of Trade]] then after 18 months the [[Department of Health (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Health]].<ref name="odnb2" /> Although the [[Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919|Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act]] had been enacted in 1919, the examinations to enter the administrative grades at the civil service had only been opened to women in 1925. The first three in 1925 were [[Alix Kilroy]] (a college friend), [[Enid Russell-Smith]] and [[Mary Smieton]]; all three would later be named [[Order of the British Empire|Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire]].<ref name="kilroy-civservbio">{{cite web |title=Alix Kilroy |url=https://civilservant.org.uk/women-alix_kilroy.html |website=Understanding Government |access-date=4 February 2020}}</ref>
The Ministry of Health at the time was concerned with housing and local government, and this soon became her specialty. During the [[Second World War]] she was seconded to the [[HM Treasury|Treasury]].<ref name="obit"/> At the end of the war she returned to the Ministry of Health as an under-secretary in 1945, before becoming Deputy Secretary in the [[Ministry of Town and Country Planning]] in 1946.<ref name="odnb2" /> As no other woman had been as senior, there were no established women's pay scales, so she received the same pay as men on the same grade, a decade before [[equal pay]] became official policy. She played an important role in the development of post-war planning policy, including the [[Town and Country Planning Act 1947]] and championed the development of [[New towns#United Kingdom|new towns]].<ref name=odnb/><ref name="innertemp" /> She argued that for new towns to work they must not act against economic and social forces or be cross-subsidised, embracing the notion that they should be competitive.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Aldridge |first=Meryl |date=January 1996 |title=Only demi-paradise? Women in garden cities and new towns |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/action/showCitFormats?doi=10.1080/026654396364916 |journal=Planning Perspectives |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=23–39 |doi=10.1080/026654396364916 |bibcode=1996PlPer..11...23A |issn=0266-5433|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Sharp was committed to local government and strengthening its influence through reforms, and was dedicated to visiting local authorities over the country.<ref name=":1">{{cite journal |last=Theakston |first=Kevin |date=1 June 1993 |title=Evelyn Sharp (1903–85) |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/13619469308581240 |journal=Contemporary Record |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=132–148 |doi=10.1080/13619469308581240 |issn=0950-9224|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Her obituary in ''The Times'' described her as doing "more than anyone else in this century to bring local and central government closely together. In local government circles she earnt a personal trust that was unique."<ref name="obit" />
When the [[Ministry of Housing and Local Government]] was formed in 1951, she became the Deputy Secretary. She worked with [[Harold Macmillan]], who later described her as "without exception the ablest woman I have ever known".<ref name="civservorg">{{cite web |title=Evelyn Sharp |url=https://civilservant.org.uk/women-evelyn_sharp.html |website=Understanding Government |access-date=4 February 2020}}</ref> In October 1955, she was promoted to be the [[Permanent Secretary]]. By this she became the first woman to be in the highest executive position with a Ministry, and she worked for five different Ministers during her time: [[Duncan Sandys]], [[Henry Brooke, Baron Brooke of Cumnor|Henry Brooke]], [[Charles Hill, Baron Hill of Luton|Charles Hill]], [[Keith Joseph]] and [[Richard Crossman]]. She held the post to her retirement in 1966.<ref name="obit"/> She developed a reputation for her depth of specialist knowledge and experience, direct approach and strength of character (to the extent that she is often described as "formidable"), and an ability to identify solutions,<ref name=odnb/> a 'maker of civil servant history'.<ref name="obit" />
From 1964, her Minister was Labour's [[Richard Crossman]], who described his battles with her in the first of his three-volume ''Diaries of a Cabinet Minister''.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last=Crossman |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Crossman |title=Diaries of a Cabinet Minister: Selections, 1964–70 |year=1979 |publisher=[[Hamish Hamilton|Hamish Hamilton Ltd]] |location=London |isbn= 978-0-241-10142-1}}</ref> Sharp succeeded in keeping planning within her ministry's remit, after the government formed a new [[Ministry of Land and Natural Resources]].
She was a member of the Plowden committee, which examined the control of public expenditure, from 1959 to 1961. After her retirement, she served on the [[Royal Commission]] on local government in England from 1966 to 1969 (see [[Redcliffe-Maud Report]]), and she was a member of the [[Independent Broadcasting Authority]] from 1966 to 1973. She also served as a director of the construction company [[Bovis Homes Group|Bovis]], and as president of the [[London and Quadrant Housing Trust]].<ref name=odnb/>
She was the author of a 1970 report to the [[Minister of Transport]] called ''Transport Planning: The Men For The Job''.<ref name="archivetransp">{{cite web |last1=Sharp |first1=Evelyn |title=Transport planning. The men for the job |url=https://archive.org/details/op1268307-1001/mode/2up |website=Archive.org entry |date=21 August 1970 |publisher=[[HMSO]] |access-date=4 February 2020}}</ref> 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.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}
In 1983 she wrote to ''The Times'' to explain her opposition to Thatcher's abolition of the [[Greater London Council|GLC]].<ref name=":1" />
==Another viewpoint== Because of her enthusiasm for modernist architecture and urban rebuilding it has been said that she "truly did come close to doing as much damage to Britain as the [[Luftwaffe]]".<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Guardian|title=Second time round the block|last=Cohen|first=Nick|date=20 March 2015|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2005/mar/20/communities.architecture|access-date=18 September 2018}}</ref> "She went along with the conventional wisdom of the time in backing high-rise flats — something she later regretted".<ref name=odnb2>Theakston, Kevin. "Sharp, Evelyn Adelaide, Baroness Sharp (1903–1985)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2011 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/31672 accessed 19 September 2018]</ref>
==Honours and styles==
===Honours=== In 1948, she was appointed to the [[Order of the British Empire]] as a Dame Commander (DBE).<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=38311 |date=4 June 1948 |page=3373}}</ref> In 1961, she was promoted to be a [[Dame Grand Cross]] in the same order (GBE).<ref name="obit"/><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=42370 |date=10 June 1961 |page=4152 |supp=y}}</ref> On 19 September 1968 she was raised to the peerage as '''Baroness Sharp''', of [[Hornsey]] in [[Greater London]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=44117 |date=20 September 1966 |page=10171}}</ref> She joined the [[Social Democratic Party (UK)|Social Democratic Party]] (SDP) upon its formation in 1981 and took the SDP whip in the House of Lords.{{sfn|Theakston|1993|p=137}}
She became an honorary fellow at [[Somerville College, Oxford|Somerville College]], Oxford in 1955. She received an honorary [[Doctor of Civil Law|DCL]] from Oxford University in 1960, and later honorary [[Legum Doctor|LLDs]] from Cambridge University, Manchester University, and Sussex University.<ref name=odnb/>
In 1976 she became the first woman Honorary Fellow of the [[Institution of Structural Engineers]].<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1976|title=News (p4)|journal=The Woman Engineer|volume=11|issue=20}}</ref>
===Styles of address=== *1948{{ndash}}1968: Dame Evelyn Sharp<ref name="odnb" /> *1968{{ndash}}1985: ''The Right Honourable'' The Baroness Sharp<ref name="odnb2" /><ref name="innertemp">{{cite web |title=Evelyn Sharp |url=https://www.innertemple.org.uk/women-in-law/our-women/evelyn-sharp/ |website=Inner Temple - Women in Law |access-date=31 January 2020}}</ref>
==Death== Baroness Sharp died at [[Lavenham]] in Suffolk in 1985, aged 82. She never married, but a long-term relationship with another senior civil servant from the 1950s to the 1970s was an open secret.<ref name=odnb/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13619469308581240 Journal article at tandfonline.com] * [http://thepeerage.com/p19182.htm#i191816 Profile at ThePeerage.com] * [https://civilservant.org.uk/women-evelyn_sharp.html Profile at UnderstandingGovernment.org] * [https://www.innertemple.org.uk/women-in-law/our-women/evelyn-sharp/ Profile at The Inner Temple - Women in Law] * [http://www.policy.manchester.ac.uk/resources/civil-servant/about/dameevelynsharp/ Dame Evelyn Sharp] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150611021102/http://www.policy.manchester.ac.uk/resources/civil-servant/about/dameevelynsharp/ |date=11 June 2015 }}, University of Manchester
{{S-start}} {{s-gov}} {{Succession box | title = Permanent Secretary, [[Ministry of Housing and Local Government]] | years = 1955–66 | with = | before = Sir [[Thomas Sheepshanks]] | after = Sir [[Matthew Stevenson (civil servant)|Matthew Stevenson]] }} {{S-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, Evelyn}} [[Category:1903 births]] [[Category:1985 deaths]] [[Category:Civil servants from London]] [[Category:Permanent secretaries of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government]] [[Category:Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Category:Dames Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Category:People educated at North London Collegiate School]] [[Category:People educated at St Paul's Girls' School]] [[Category:Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford]] [[Category:Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II]] [[Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II]] [[Category:People from Hornsey]] [[Category:20th-century British women politicians]] [[Category:Social Democratic Party (UK) life peers]]