• Name: Sharp, William
• Gender: Male
• Birth Date: 29  January  1749
• Death Date: 25  July  1824
• Occupation: engraver

Godwin notes in his 1796 list that he meets Rd Sharpe in 1790 and that he meets W Sharp in 1792. However, we cannot systematically distinguish between entries on the basis of the spelling because earlier entries to Sharpe are not exclusively to R Sharp since there are entries to 'Sharpe engraver'. Only by 1802 does he seem to have stabilised his recognition that Richard Sharp does not have an 'e' at the end - although there is a Sharpe as late as 1809, there is no R Sharpe after 1802. What we cannot be certain about, however, is how far there is anything systematic underlying the different spelling and the use of initials.

It seems plausible to think that the first encounter with William Sharp was 20 October 1792 when Godwin sees Romney's Paine and a number of other pictures at Sharp's - plausible since Sharp engraved Romney's portrait of Paine and would have had reason to have a number of new pictures. The next contact on 23 December 1792 is for 'Sharpe [sic] engraver' at Horne Tooke's. In 1793 there are five instances of 'Sharpe' all recorded at Horne Tooke's, with neither initial nor 'eng' following. They are all Sunday dinners, spread widely across the year. According to Bewley, Horne Tooke employed William Sharp to teach his daughters drawing and engraving, and he would often stay with the family 'for a week two at a time' while teaching. Richard Sharp also seems to have been in London at this time and was also an intimate of Tooke's. Both Sharps seem to have been members of the Society for Constitutional Information (SCI), and R Sharp was also a member of the Friends of the People. In 1794 the entries continue at Tooke's (and at Newgate with Gerald), then involve a number of 'call on' entries after the arrests. Godwin also notes Sharp at Hardy's trial. Oddly, at Tooke's trial, where William Sharp gave evidence, the entry is to 'Sharpe Gram'. It is difficult to be certain as to whether these entries are to W or R Sharp, but the involvement of R Sharp with the Friends of the People, and consequently his diminishing involvement with the SCI, suggests that W Sharp is the most likely attribution for this period, both immediately before and after the Treason Trials.

In 1795 there are two Sharpes at Holcrofts and a Mrs Sharpe at Johnson's (it is clear that R Sharp never married, but we have less information about W Sharp). In 1796 there are two meetings, one at Holcrofts, the other a plain 'Meet'. In 1797 Godwin distinguishes R Sharp, and there is a single plain Sharp on whom he calls in 1798. There are no entries in 1799, then a 'Meet Sharp' and a 'Sharpe' encountered at Horne Tooke's in 1800. In 1801 there is a 'Meet Sharpe', and a Sharp encountered at an Exhibition. In 1802 Godwin has entries for Sharpe and then R Sharpe, from Sharp. But in 1805 he reverts to recording two Sharpes and one Sharp, with no initials to distinguish them.
In 1806, he writes to Sharp, and is written to by Sharp, and then notes writing to R Sharp. It seems improbable that he is writing to both R and W Sharp and the context suggests that he has a growing intimacy with R Sharp, or desires this in the light of Sharp's wealth. However, St Clair interprets these entries as referring to William Sharp in the light of the one letter that more or less fits the dates (the draft letter is dated 16 April while in the diary Godwin records the letters as written on the 15 and 17 April), as referring to William Sharp, but it seems more likely to be Richard Sharp. In 1807 there is one Sharp entry at a Guildhall dinner involving Sheridan, which given R Sharp's Whig associations seems likely to be him. There seems to be a connection for Godwin between Sharp and W Smith, since he writes to both on 07 June 1808 and on 26 January 1809. The most plausible link is that they are both Whig MPs. On 6 June 1811, he calls on R Sharp who is not at home, and then on 12 June a 'Call on Sharp' takes place. It seems most likely that this is the same person. In 1815 he enters M from Sharp - following a reasonably long series of R Sharp entries. Then three weeks later he enters Meet Sharp, engraver. This strongly suggests that the first entry with respect to Marshall is a different Sharp, and in all probability was R Sharp. (coding changed). The later Diary entries are much more consistent in their use of R Sharp, with far fewer Sharps and Sharpes. But the earlier entries are not so and it is not clear how systematically to distinguish them.

It looks as if, after meeting R Sharp first, Godwin's contacts in 1793, 1794 and 1795 are predominantly with W Sharp, with links through others who were involved in the Treason Trials of 1794. However, it seems possible that contacts with W Sharp decline and are increasingly replaced by R Sharp, so that R Sharp dominates the diary, especially from 1806, when Godwin is trying to raise money to establish his business on a firm footing, and when he sems to be involved in extensive correspondence soliciting support. From this date R Sharp is used more systematically, but by no means exclusively, and it remains difficult to judge whether plain Sharps (and the odd Sharpe) are to R, or W, or another. On this basis we have created a generic Sharp file, to hold all entries of Sharp(e) that are indeterminate between W and R, taking those in 1793-5 to be W Sharp, and treating occasional Sharps after 1810 as plausible R Sharp entries.

Godwin notes 'W Sharp, engraver, dies, or 25th' on 1824-07-30. The DNB gives the date of death as 25 July 1824.

The Sharp entered in 1835, after both W and R Sharp's deaths, is not coded.

• DNB
• St Clair, p. 288.
• David and Christina Bewley, Gentleman Radical: a life of John Horne Tooke, 1736–1812 (London: Tauris Academic Studies, 1998) p. 118.

This table lists the people this person is most frequently noted with in the diary.