Arthur Sparke (5 June 1628 – 1677) was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1660.

Life and work

Birth

Arthur was born on 5 June 1628, as the fifth (but third surviving) son of Thomas Sparke, the rector of

Brown Candover Brown Candover is a village in Hampshire, England. The village belongs to the parish of the Candovers and its nearest town is New Alresford, away from the village. Governance The village of Brown Candover is part of the civil parish of Candover ...

parish.

Positions

Sparke was a barrister of the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

, from 1651 to 1655 he served as the Town clerk in Hertford, and was also steward of the borough court from 1661 until 1675. In 1660, he was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a ford on the River Lea, ne ...

in the Convention Parliament. He was deputy to the

King's Remembrancer The King's Remembrancer (or Queen's Remembrancer) is an ancient judicial post in the legal system of England and Wales. Since the Lord Chancellor no longer sits as a judge, the Remembrancer is the oldest judicial position in continual existence ...

in the Exchequer and a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

Family

Sparke married Mary North, daughter of Hugh North of Marden in the parish of Tewin. With her he had at least two sons, the second of whom (Arthur Sparke) was born on 1 March 1661 but died on 12 January 1665 and was buried in the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Baldock.

Death

He died at the age of 49 in 1677.

References

1628 births 1677 deaths English MPs 1660 English lawyers Members of the Middle Temple People from Basingstoke and Deane {{17thC-England-MP-stub