SHAIRP, a surname having the same derivation as that of Sharp, which see. The family of Shairp of Houston have held lands in the parish of Uphall, Linlithgowshire, since the reign of David II. Their ancestor, William E’scharp, is said to have come from Normandy. Some of the family papers bear date as far back as 1462. Most of the property was acquired by Sir John Shairp, advocate for Queen Mary. Many of his descendants distinguished themselves in battle. In the last Scots parliament Thomas Shairp of Houston, with his brother-in-law, Murray of Livingston, represented the county of Linlithgow, and rendered himself conspicuous by his opposition to the treaty of union with England. Major Norman Shairp of Houston, the representative of the family, born 26th October 1779, second son of Thomas Shairp of Houstoun and Mary, youngest daughter of Norman Macleod of Macleod, was for many years in the East India Company’s service, and acted as one of the aides-de-camp of General Viscount Lake, when he overthrew the Mahratta army under the French general Perron in 1803, and took possession of Delhi, the capital of the Mogul empire; also in his campaign against Scindiah and Holcar, in 1804 and 1805. Major Shairp served, in 1810, at the taking of the Isle of France, and in March 1831, he succeeded his father in the estate of Houston. He married, 6th March 1808, Elizabeth Binning, fourth daughter of John Campbell, Esq. of Kildallog, Argyleshire, with issue, three sons and seven daughters. He had several brothers and two sisters, the elder of whom, Ann Macleod, married in 1804, Captain Innes, R.N., and the younger, Christian, became in 1810, the wife of William Mitchell Innes, Esq. of Parson’s Green and Ayton.