John ‘Jack’ Sharp was born in Hereford on 15th
February 1878, the son of butcher Charles Sharp, who had a shop in Eign Street
in the centre of the town. It was whilst playing for local football team Hereford
Thistle that he was spotted by Aston Villa. His stay with the Villa was not too
long, it was said that they considered him too small to be a successful
forward. Nonetheless, in his season and a half with them he made 23 league
appearances with an impressive tally of 15 goals. This was enough to bring him
to the attention of Everton and he joined them, along with his full-back brother
Bert, in 1899.
He remained with Everton until retirement in 1910 and
enjoyed a decade of exceptional success. Featuring in the F.A. Cup winning team
of 1906, (it was he who provided the cross for Sandy Young’s winning goal) he
also played several games for England, becoming one of the few men to have
represented England at both football and cricket when he appeared in three
tests against the Australians in 1909. Qualifying for Lancashire County Cricket Club via a spell with Leyland,
he made over 500 first-class appearances.
Sharp made 382 appearances for Everton and scored 80 goals,
a record which saw him named by the club as one of their Millennium Giants.
After retirement Jack Sharp retained his Everton connection,
serving as a director of the club until his death, aged 59, in 1938. His name was
also known to generations of Merseyside sportsmen and sportswomen via his sporting
goods shop in Whitechapel.
In 1901 Jack Sharp was a lodger at 86 Rockfield Road L4, a house which was demolished, ironically, to make space for the expansion of Liverpool FC's Anfield stadium. In 1911 he was living with his wife Mary and their two children at 'Duneen', Mersey Road L17. At the time of his death in 1938 he was living at 243 Queens Drive Wavertree L15.
