▶Date of birth:  28 January 1906        Place of birth: Croydon, Surrey

▶Father:  William Andrew Sharland     Mother:  Edith Minnie Roper

▶Spouse(s):  Veronica Mary Daniell    Date(s) of marriage: 2Q 1938      Place(s) of marriage: Elham, Kent

▶Occupation: Clergyman (Anglican)

▶Lifestory: William James Sharland’s first post in the Church was at All Saints, Cheltenham; in later life he was particularly associated with the reintroduction of Plough Sunday services. Sharland was born in Croydon, Surrey, in 1906, the elder son of William Andrew Sharland, a marine-insurance clerk born in Exeter, and his wife Edith Minnie. He underwent his theological training at St Paul’s Missionary College, Burgh in 1928, and was admitted to the University of Durham in 1932, graduating with a Licentiate in Theology in 1935. Taking holy orders, he was ordained Deacon in 1932, and Priest (both Gloucester) in 1933.

His first curacy was at All Saints, Cheltenham 1932-4, and in 1933 he lodged at 1 Blenheim Parade (now 3 Evesham Road), Pittville, and in 1934 at nearby 7 Winstonian Road, Cheltenham. In 1934 he moved to become Curate of St Mary Magdalene, Chiswick 1934-5, and Curate of St Leonard, Hythe in Kent 1935-9.

In 1936 his engagement was announced to Benedicta Joan, elder daughter of the Revd. C. S. T. Watkins, of Holy Trinity Vicarage, Folkestone, but the couple did not get married. However, in 1938 he married Veronica Mary, youngest daughter of Colonel O. J. Daniell, of Oak Lodge, Hythe; she outlived him.

In 1939 he obtained the rectory of St Mary in the Marsh, Kent 1939-42. For a short while he served as Acting Curate of St Luke, Woodside in Surrey 1942, before his appointment as Vicar of Hernhill, Kent 1943-9; in this post he was remembered for reinstating the agricultural festivals of Plough Sunday (celebrated in early January, when a plough is blessed in church) and Rogation Sunday (the fifth Sunday after Easter), and finally Vicar of Twyning in Gloucestershire from 1949 (he also reinstated Plough Sunday at Twyford); he was defeated in 1967 in elections for Twyford Parish Council.

The Revd. Sharland died in 1986 in Malvern, at the age of eighty.

▶Moved to Pittville from:  (Uncertain)      Moved from Pittville to: Chiswick

▶Date of death:   11 May 1986     Place of death: Malvern

▶Date of burial:         Place of burial:

▶Notes:        ID: 16864

Contributor(s):  John Simpson/Alan Munden