Sarah Bates (née Harrop, October 1758 – 11 December 1811) was an English singer born in Lancashire.

Sarah Harrop was born at Woodbrook, Saddleworth on the western edge of Yorkshire.

[1] On one occasion she sang in public in Halifax where she was heard by Dr. Howard, of Leicester, who prophesied that she would one day throw all the English, nay even the Italian female singers far behind her.

In London she studied Italian music under Sacchini, and the compositions of Handel and the older masters under her future husband.

Angelica Kauffman painted her portrait[2] depicting her as Erato, the muse of lyric poetry, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1781 and is now in the possession of the Princeton University Art Museum.