John Sparke (c. 1574 – 1640) of The Friary, in the parish of St Jude, Plymouth, Devon, was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

from 1628 to 1629.

Origins

Sparke was the son of John Sparke (died 1603) of Plymouth, Devon, Mayor of Plymouth in 1583 and 1591, by his wife Juliana Cock (died 1583), daughter of Gregory Cock, mayor of Plymouth.Hunneyball In the 1580s John Sparke (died 1603) acquired the former Whitefriars Priory in the parish of St Jude, Plymouth (dissolved a few decades before during the dissolution of the monasteries), which he made his residence.

Career

He matriculated at

Exeter College, Oxford Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth-oldest college of the un ...

on 13 December 1594, aged 19. He was a student of

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

in 1623. In 1628, probably due to the influence of his wife's family the Rashleighs, 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

Mitchell Mitchell may refer to: People *Mitchell (surname) *Mitchell (given name) Places Australia * Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory, a light-industrial estate * Mitchell, New South Wales, a suburb of Bathurst * Mitchell, Northern Territo ...

and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. 'Alumni Oxonienses, 1500-1714: Spackman-Stepney', Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714 (1891), pp. 1394-1422. Date accessed: 3 June 2012
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Residence

The Sparke family's residence in Plymouth was the former Whitefriars Abbey, in the parish of St Jude, which after the dissolution of the monasteries was probably acquired by Giles and Gregory Iselham, who obtained possession of other ecclesiastical property in Plymouth. It was then acquired by the Sparke family, who made it their residence. From Sparke it passed to the Molesworths and Clarkes to the Beweses. The buildings were converted into a hospital for soldiers in the year 1794, when a deadly sickness was ravaging the troops detained at the port for the West India expedition. They were subsequently used as an infirmary for the troops stationed at Millbay and Frankfort Barracks. Parts were used as dwellings, but Friary Court was thenceforth never considered a fashionable address. By 1890 all had disappeared and the bulk of the site was occupied by the Friary Railway Station, now closed, of the London and South Western Railway, with another part occupied by the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Cross.

Marriage and children

In 1620 he married Deborah Rashleigh (1581–1638), a daughter of John Rashleigh (1554–1624), of

Menabilly Menabilly ( kw, Men Ebeli, meaning ''stone of Colt (horse), colts'') is a historic estate on the south coast of Cornwall, England, situated within the parish of Tywardreath on the Gribben Head, Gribben peninsula about west of Fowey. It has be ...

, near Fowey, in Cornwall, builder of the first mansion house at Menabilly, a shipping-merchant, MP for

Fowey Fowey ( ; kw, Fowydh, meaning 'Beech Trees') is a port town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town has been in existence since well before the Norman invasion, with the local ch ...

in 1588 and 1597, and

High Sheriff of Cornwall Sheriffs and high sheriffs of Cornwall: a chronological list: The right to choose high sheriffs each year is vested in the Duchy of Cornwall. The Privy Council, chaired by the sovereign, chooses the sheriffs of all other English counties, ot ...

in 1608. By his wife he had children including: *Jonathan Sparke, second son, who married Mary Basset, a daughter of Sir Robert Basset (1573–1641), MP, of

Heanton Punchardon Heanton Punchardon ( ) is a village, civil parish and former manor, anciently part of Braunton Hundred. It is situated directly east-southeast of the village of Braunton, in North Devon. The parish lies on the north bank of the estuary of the ...

in North Devon, by whom he had a son and heir John Sparke (1636–1680), MP, of the Friary, Plymouth. Jonathan Sparke is mentioned in the Travel Journal of

Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo III de' Medici (14 August 1642 – 31 October 1723) was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1670 until his death in 1723, the sixth and penultimate from the House of Medici. He reigned from 1670 to 1723, and was the elder son of Grand Duke Ferdinan ...

(1642–1723) who was visiting Plymouth on 5 April 1669: ::"On the 5th of the same month Sir Jonathan Spark came to pay his respects to the serene prince, accompanied by his son. This gentleman is an inhabitant of Plymouth, in the neighbourhood of which he possesses an estate of a thousand pounds a year; consequently he is considered the principal person of the place".

Death and burial

He died on 17 March 1640, aged 66, and was buried in St Andrew's Church where survives his mural monument, with alabaster kneeling statues of himself and his wife, with the arms of Sparke impaling Rashleigh. It was smoke damaged during World War II bombing, and was restored and repainted in the early 1990s by Plymouth stonemason Mark Robinson. It is inscribed as follows:
:"To the loving memory of John Sparke Esq late of this town and Deborah, his wife, daughter to John Rashleigh of Foy, Esq who departed this life in expectation of a joyful resurrection March the 17th 1640 aged 66, she November the 1st 1638 aged 57. :''A father, mother and two daughters deere'', :''In silent earth are sweetly lodged heere'', :''Still of age and two in infancye'', :''Denotes to all both olde and younge must die'', :''A vertuous life they lived amongst friends'', :''And crownes of glory now for them attends''".

Sources

*Hunneyball, Paul, biography of "Sparke, John (c. 1574 – 1640), of The Friary, Plymouth, Devon", published in

History of Parliament The History of Parliament is a project to write a complete history of the United Kingdom Parliament and its predecessors, the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of England. The history will principally consist of a prosopography, in w ...

: House of Commons 1604–1629, ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, 201

* John Lambrick Vivian, Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, p. 856, Pedigree of "Sparke of Plymouth"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sparke, John 1570s births 1640 deaths Members of the pre-1707 English Parliament for constituencies in Cornwall Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford Members of Lincoln's Inn English MPs 1628–1629