Thomas Sparke
Thomas Sparke (1548โ1616) was an English clergyman, who represented the
Life
He was born at
Together with Walter Travers, Sparke represented the Puritan positions in a conference held at Lambeth in December 1584 with Archbishop John Whitgift and Cooper as Bishop of Winchester, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, and Francis Walsingham being present. They protested against the reading of the apocryphal scriptures in churches, against private and lay baptism, the use of the sign of the cross, the celebration of private communions, and the allowance of plurality and non-residence. Neither party was satisfied.
On 14 September 1585 Sparke preached at Chenies, Buckinghamshire, a funeral sermon on Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford; he also preached at the funeral of his patron, Lord Grey de Wilton, on 22 November 1593, at Whaddon, Buckinghamshire. In 1591 he published an Answere to Mr. John de Albine's notable Discourse against Heresies, against Jean d'Albin de Valsergues; his opponent's complete text is inserted and answered chapter by chapter.
He was summoned by
Sparke died at Bletchley on 8 October 1616. He was buried in the chancel of the parish church, where a monument with an epitaph was erected to him by his eldest son.
Sparke married Rose, youngest daughter of John Inkforbye, merchant, of Ipswich. Of their ten children, only five survived her death on 7 August 1615. Of the sons, William Sparke (1587โ1641) became chaplain to George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, and succeeded his father as incumbent of Bletchley, but fell into debt and was forced to quit.
Notes
- ^ Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714, Spackman-Stepney
- ^ "New Focus | That the purpose of God according to election might stand". Archived from the original on 9 November 2007. Retrieved 3 June 2009.
References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Sparke, Thomas". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885โ1900.