J. W. "Jack" Sharp (or Sharpe; 1818 – 10 January 1856) was an English singer and comic entertainer. Little is known of his early life. He worked behind the scenes in London theatres in the 1840s, and in the evenings supplemented his income by entertaining in the

Vauxhall Gardens Vauxhall Gardens is a public park in Kennington in the London Borough of Lambeth, England, on the south bank of the River Thames. Originally known as New Spring Gardens, it is believed to have opened before the Restoration of 1660, being me ...

, the Cremorne Gardens in Chelsea, and Evans' Supper Rooms in

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

. He also sold copies of his songs. His repertoire included topical and

risqué Risqué may refer to: * Material deemed slightly indecent or liable to shock, especially sexual suggestiveness * ''Risqué'' (album), 1979 recording by American disco band Chic * Risque (comics), mutant character first appearing in Marvel Comic ...

songs, as well as parodies.Richard Anthony Baker, ''British Music Hall: an illustrated history'', Pen & Sword, 2014, , p.123 The impresario Charles Morton described Sharp as "one of the funniest fellows that ever appeared on any stage." "Sharpe, J. W.", ''Vauxhall Gardens 1661-1859''
Retrieved 25 September 2020 Many of his songs were written by John Labern, often based on ideas suggested by Sharp. Jess Owen, "John Labern and ‘Jacky’ Sharpe: Singers and Fitzrovians", ''Fitzrovia News'', 27 September 2011
Retrieved 25 September 2020 He was chosen to open the new season at Vauxhall Gardens in 1845, and worked closely with Labern for the rest of the decade. However, by 1850 his performances suffered from the effects of alcohol abuse, and, according to Morton, he "drifted into becoming a 'tramp' comic singer, making a collection in this or that tavern bar", though he was still performing in 1855. According to

Edmund Yates Edmund Hodgson Yates (3 July 183120 May 1894) was a British journalist, novelist and dramatist. Early life He was born in Edinburgh to the actor and theatre manager Frederick Henry Yates and was educated at Highgate School in London from 1840 ...

: "No man in my recollection, as a broadly comic vocalist, has been such a favourite as was J. W. Sharp: at Vauxhall and Cremorne in the summer, at public dinners in the winter, and at Evans's always, he was fully employed. But he fell into bad ways, took to drinking, lost his engagements, and was finally found dead from starvation on a country road." According to contemporary reports, he died in 1856 in the

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

Union Workhouse In Britain and Ireland, a workhouse (, lit. "poor-house") was a total institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses. The earliest ...

at Buckland in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, an area in which he was apparently well known. "Deaths: J. W. Sharp", ''Dover Telegraph'', 12 January 1856
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, J. W. 1810s births 1856 deaths British music hall performers 19th-century British male singers