BSc Manch 1940, MB ChB 1943; MD Rochester, USA 1943; MRCS LRCP 1944; FRCP Lond 1967.
Sharp was born in Bolton, Lancashire, on 23 March 1919. He was educated at Glossop and Leigh Grammar Schools, and received his medical education at the University of Manchester, where he was awarded a number of academic distinctions, including the Rockefeller Medical Studentship in the USA. Sharp held junior appointments at MRI and served in the RAMC in India. Sharp was a member of Manchester Medical Society. Sharp was assistant clinical director of the University Research Centre for the Study of Chronic Rheumatism at MRI before being appointed consultant physician to the Devonshire Royal Hospital, Buxton, and Withington Hospital, Manchester.