 Sharpe 's earliest commissions were promoted by his older cousin Revd J. W. Whitaker , vicar of Blackburn . Whittaker had connections with major figures in the Church of England and members of the aristocracy . Sharpe 's work came to the notice of the Bishop of Chester , Rt Rev John Bird Sumner , whose diocese at that time included Lancashire as well as Cheshire . He was a member of the Church Building Commission , and it is likely that he played a part in Sharpe 's involvement in designing Commissioners ' Churches . Family connections led to an association with the Greenall family , brewers in Warrington , which possibly led to the commission for the series of churches along the Weaver Navigation . Sharpe had hoped to gain commissions from the Earl of Derby , but was successful only in his design for St Mary , Knowsley . The relationship the practice developed with the major entrepreneurs in Barrow @-@ in @-@ Furness , James Ramsden , and Henry Schneider , resulted in the many commissions for buildings in the town and for the Furness Railway . 
