Background
He was son of John Sparke or Sparkes of Peterborough.
He was son of John Sparke or Sparkes of Peterborough.
Having been educated in his native city under a Mr. Warren, he was admitted a pensioner at Saint John"s College, Cambridge, on 11 July 1699, and graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1704.
Returning to Peterborough, he became registrar of Peterborough Cathedral. He devoted much time to antiquarian studies. In 1719, in a letter of Maurice Johnson to William Stukeley, he is mentioned as having lately arranged on a new method Lord Cardigan"s library at Dean in Northamptonshire.
He was also entrusted with the care of White Kennett"s collection of early historical and theological documents that passed to the cathedral library, which he was to supply daily and augment.
Kennett"s biographer William Newton describes Sparke as ‘of very good literature and very able to assist in that good design’. Sparke died on 20 July 1740, and was buried in Peterborough Cathedral, where there is a monument to him in the retro-choir.
In October 1722 he had become a member of the Spalding Gentlemen"s Society, on which it was modelled.