The sudden deaths of her father, brother and sister, and the failure of prayer to save their lives, caused Sharples to question her faith, resulting in a radical change in her life.

[4] About a year later she discovered a copy of Carlile's newspaper The Republican in a cousin's library and became interested enough to track down more of his works in a local radical bookshop.

[5] In December 1831 she began to correspond with Carlile, who by now had been imprisoned for seditious libel, and in January 1832 she travelled to London to visit him in Giltspur Street Compter.

[1] Sharples' arrival gave Carlile an opportunity to revive the fortunes of his radical theatre, the Rotunda, which had fallen on hard times since the imprisonment of its chief attraction, Robert Taylor and the departure of his successor, Zion Ward.

[1] In the tradition of Carlile and Taylor, Sharples attacked the monarchy, the political establishment and organised religion, arguing that Christianity promoted superstition, prevented the dissemination of knowledge and denied man's liberty.

[10] In addition, she spoke in favour of women's rights to speak in public and challenged the Christian doctrine of original sin, proclaiming Eve to be "the personification of wisdom, of liberty, of resistance to tyranny; the mother of human knowledge; the proper help meet for man".

[11] Initially, Sharples achieved cult status,[12] but her lack of training in public speaking soon led to a decline in income from audiences, and by the end of March Carlile had closed the Rotunda and given up its lease.

Her public appearances were limited to a lecture in 1846 "on the Nature and Character of Woman and her Position in Society" and a brief speech on the birthday anniversary of Thomas Paine in 1849, both given at the Owenite Literary and Social Institution.

She wrote that they regarded her job as serving the coffee and scorned her belief that "all Reform will be found to be inefficient that does not embrace the Rights of Women".