George Baker retired about 1747, and Richard Sharp carried on the business. He took a nephew, John Sharp, into partnership about 1760, but John died in 1766, and Richard Sharp now faced a crisis in securing the future of his firm. His only son, also called Richard, had obtained a commission as ensign in the 40th Regiment of Foot in 1756; was stationed at St John’s Newfoundland, where he married a local woman, Elizabeth Adams in 1759, and returned to England about 1763, dying in London two years later. They had two young sons, Richard (born 1759) and William. No doubt planning for his successor, the boys’ grandfather took into partnership another hatter, Thomas Cable Davis, who married the boys’ mother in 1769. Next year old Richard Sharp made his will, in which he recorded that Davis had agreed to take one of the grandsons as an apprentice when he was old enough, and eventually make him a partner in the hatting business for a three-sevenths share. In 1775, shortly before his death, Sharp added a codicil showing that Richard, the elder of the two boys, had become the apprentice. Provisions were also made to loan substantial sums from the estate to Thomas Cable Davis, who must not have had enough capital to maintain the business on his own, if old Sharp’s share was taken out by his executors. By his grandfather’s will, young Richard was to receive £1,500, to be held in trust for him by his uncles until he came of age. He was a partner with his stepfather, in the firm of Davis & Sharp, still at No. 6, Fish Street Hill, by 1782.