Sylvester Harding

Harding was born at Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England, UK, on 25 July 1745. Placed when a child with an uncle in London, at the age of fourteen he ran away and joined a company of actors. In 1775 he returned to London and took to miniature-painting, exhibiting at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1776 and in subsequent years. In 1786 Harding joined his brother Edward Harding in starting a book and printseller's shop in Fleet Street, London. In 1792 they moved to 102 Pall Mall, where they carried on a successful business. Before 1798, the brothers dissolved their partnership, Silvester moving to 127 and Edward to 98 Pall Mall. Harding died on 12 August 1809.