Granville Sharp was born in Durham in 1735.

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Granville Sharp was born in Durham in 1735. The son of an archdeacon, and the grandson of the Archbishop of York, Sharp decided against a career in the Church of England and instead served an apprenticeship in London as a linen-draper. The work did not satisfy him and in 1758 obtain a post as a clerk in the civil service.

In 1765 Sharp was living with his brother, a surgeon in Wapping, East London. One day Jonathan Strong, a black man, arrived at the house. Strong was a slave who had been so badly beaten by his master, David Lisle, that he was close to death. Sharp took Strong to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where he had to spend four months recovering from his injuries. Strong told Sharp how Lisle, had brought him to England from Barbados. Lisle had apparently been dissatisfied with Strong's services and after beating him with his pistol, had thrown him onto the streets.

After Jonathan Strong had regained his health, David Lisle paid two men to recapture him. When Sharp heard the news he took Lisle to court claiming that as Strong was in England he was no longer a slave. However, it