His grandfather, another Richard Sharp (circa 1690–1775), from a family of clothiers at Romsey, Hampshire, had been apprenticed in 1712 to George Baker, a freeman of the Goldsmiths’ Company of London, but a haberdasher of hats by trade. He completed his apprenticeship, and by the early 1730s he was George Baker’s partner in the successful hatting business on Fish Street Hill in the City of London. Baker & Sharp were frequent buyers of beaver at Hudson’s Bay Company sales, which they would have supplied to feltmakers who made the felt "hoods" from which finished hats were fashioned. They had dealings with merchants in South Carolina in the 1730s and 40s.