SPARKE FAMILY OF HEXHAM
Information largely taken direct from “A Remarkably Fine Place: William and Mary Sparke and their Descendants in the Lower Hunter 1824-1974” by Edward James Sparke
Article by Cherylanne Bailey
Edward Sparke Snr (1769) – (9 February 1844) married Mary Hosking at St Petroc Church, South Brent, Devon on 29 April 1795. Mary was born in 1772 at South Brent, Devon, and died on 19 October 1852 at her son John’s residence, 400 George Street, Sydney.
Edward Sparke Snr and Mary (nee Hosking) emigrated from South Devon and arrived at Port Jackson in 1824 aboard the ‘Aguilar‘. The party included their 5 sons (below) together with2 cousins, William Phillip Sparke born 1796 and Mary Ann Hosking born about 1797 (Mary’s second cousin).
Children of Edward Sparke Snr and Mary:
Edward Jr married Susan Abbott;
John (1799-1852) married Mary Ann Simmons;
Andrew (abt 1802-1830);
William born 1804in Devon, England, died 13 May 1878 “Woodbury”, Upper Hexham, NSW, married Mary Ann Holt (1810-1853);
and George (1806-1875) married Mary Ann Patchett.
Edward Snr received a 2,000 acre grant in the parish of Alnwick, awarded on 29 November 1825, which he subsequently called “Woodlands”. He appointed his son Andrew as his manager, found residing there with his wife in 1828.
George Wyndham on a trip to Ash Island and Newcastle to his estate at Dalwood stayed at Sparke’s home in December 1830, remarking in this diary that it was very pleasant.
CONVICTS AND BUSHRANGERS
Taken directly from “An Organised Banditti: The Story of behind the ‘Jewboy’ Bushranger Gang by Colin Roope and Patricia Gregson, the Gang was one of the last and most colourful bushranger gangs of the convict era. From October to December 1840 “they ranged from Wyong on the Central Coast, through all parts of the Lake Macquarie district, to the outskirts of Newcastle and Murrurundai.”
The gang members were infamous for dressing in the finest clothing they could steal and wearing jewellery, expensive watches and ribbons as decoration. “Their signature style robbery was the home invasion” and every isolated settler in the region lived in fear of an imminent raid. Up to 100 constables, foots soldiers and mounted troopers were out searching for them at times.
One of the Gang was a convict, Edward Davis, who have absconded on numerous occasions resulting in many extensions of his sentence prior to joining. It was after one such occasion he was assigned to Edward Sparke at Hexham however he absconded on 10 January 1837 which resulted in he being sent to an iron-gang. The 1837 Convict Muster lists Davis under his alias, George Wilkinson, and assigned by this time to the Government at Vale of Clwydd in the Blue Mountains. Returning the following year to Sparke’s service, Davis is found to have absconded again on 21 August 1838. Upon recapture, Sparke transferred him to Phillip Wright of Aberdeen (publican and storekeeper) however Davis absconded again (for the last time) on 10 November 1840 whilst moving some of Sparke’s sheep from New England to Wright’s Aberdeen property. It was at this time he joined up with bushrangers Marshall and Shea¹
EDWARD SPARKE SNR’s DEATH
Edward Sparke Snr died on 19 February 1844, his death announced in the Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday, 22 February 1844, page 3:-
On Monday., the 19th instant, at his redidence, Hexham, senior, in the 75th year of his age, leaving a widow and four sons, and a large circle of friends, to lament thir loss. He arrived in this colony on the 23rd February, 1824.
In an article 5 days later, which appeared in that same publication, on Tuesday, 27 February 1844, page 3, an extract reads:-
Leaving his native country in the West of England for this colony, he arrived in ’24. with five sons, a number of agricultural servants, and all the improved implements of industry and machinery necessary to commence farming upon the English principle. He soon obtained a maximum grant on the banks pf the Hunter, and prosecuted with energy, throughout all the struggles and expanse of early clearing and cultivating this laudable undertaking, as a “True Son of Devon” In his private domestic life, no man ever set a better, a more parental example to his children, or was more beloved. Amongst his friends no man was more looked up to or respected. His benevolence to public institutions was liberal and unsolicited – his private ones silent, but certain.
Taking heavily again from “A Remarkably Fine Place:
William and Mary Sparke and their Descendants in the Lower Hunter 1824-1974” by Edward James Sparke…
EDWARD Snr’s SON, WILLIAM SPARKE
Edward Snr’s son William Sparke,born 1804, married Mary Holt at St James Sydney on 13 November 1828. The couple took a land grant awarded on 20 May 1829 of 1,920 acres in the Parish of Hexham, fronting the Hunter River, adjacent to Edward Sparke Snr’s 2,000 acres, naming their land “Webland Park”, and commenced occupation that same year. The homestead was established around 1831 on the left side, just upstream from Ash Island. It was reported as being a substantial two story building of brick and stone with a shingle roof, the home surrounded by a garden, orchard including fruit trees, and a vineyard and became a showpiece of the area.
Their eleven children were as follows:
Edward*(1831- 4 December 1902) married Amelia Caroline Mackay;
William Andrew^,born 1832 (lawyer) married Elizabeth Tighe ;
John Henderson;
James;
George Augustus;
Charles Henry;
Frederick married Charlottes Susan Sparke, his first cousin;
Emma Louisa married Samuel Hardy III;
Albert married 1. Eleanor Susanna Howes and 2. Louisa Colthorpe – no issue; and
Ellen Lavinia married Alfred Daniel Campbell Begbie. William Andrew Sparke^, born Webland Park on 8 August 1832,become a founding partner of Newcastle law firm,in 2020 known as Sparke Helmore. William became an Alderman on Newcastle’s Borough Council and the Mayor of Newcastle, having associations with Newcastle’s early Jockey Club. He erected a residence in Blane Street (later Hunter Street) Newcastle around 1870 calling it, you guessed it, “Webland”.
The “Webland Park” homestead was sold to become the Hexham Hotel under Thomas Prentice in July 1843 and having sold their family home William and Mary Ann in about 1843 moved to reside at “Woodbury”, Upper Hexham, Mary Ann Sparke (nee Holt)’s marriage portion land grant of 320 acres.
SPARKE LAND GRANTS
The Sparke land grants included on the Hunter River’s right bank, just upstream from Alexander Walker Scott’s Ash Island land grant. In the early days, family members were to hold an estimated 19,000 acre freehold of New South Wales lands.²
Many of the Sparke Estates names had their origins in Sparke holdings back in the motherland.
The Sparke family established the Hunter River’s Hexham Wharf or Port Hexham around 1829. The port was built in close proximity to the Wheat SheafInn, which Andrew Sparke had founded in 1827. It was the only wharf on the right bank of the river between Newcastle and Greenhills (Morpeth) with deepwater and given that by 1829 Greenhills was the principal Hunter River port between Newcastle and Maitland, the Wharf was a busy place indeed. The Wharf’s importance had ramped upfurther by the 1850s as by then it was handling general commerce and inland produce, mail, goods and travellers who were serviced by steam ships which has been plying the Hunter River from the 1830s.
EDWARD Snr’s GRANDSON, EDWARD SPARKE
Edward,born 1831, married Amelia Caroline Mackay at Dungog on 13 September 1863 and had the following children:
Emma Amelia married Charles Seymour Morisset – no issue
Edward William married Lillian Maud Dines (nee Vindin) Ellen – no issue
Mary Louise – no issue
Alma Adelaide – no issue
Edith Florence – no issue
John Morson married Arline Vindin Dines.
Edward Sparke, together with other Sparke family members, also applied for and received land grants in the Hunter Valley, with several Sparke women receiving marriage portion land grants.
EDWARD Snr’s COUSIN, WILLIAM SPARKE
William was born in 1796, the son of Andrew Sparke of Devon, England and was buried at Christ Church, evidenced by the burial record dated 12 June 1832 “William Sparke of Woodland’s Farm, occupation Innkeeper, age 36. Minister Rev. Wilton.”
WHEAT SHEAF INN
According to the Geni website, The Wheat Sheaf Arms was also known as the Halfway House.
“On 10 July 1830 William Sparke was granted a licence for the Inn at a cost of 25 pounds – the JPs who issued the licence being Samuel Wright, George Brooks, and Jonathon Warner.” Whilst it was stated that the Licence that William Sparke held had been held for the two previous years also, it was in fact his son Andrew who held the Licence in 1828 and 1829.
Edward Sparke (an uncle of William Sparke) was noted as the proprietor of the house (he owned the land and premises), which was situated on the line of road between Newcastle and Maitland. It is recorded that there was no public house within 7 miles at the time.
The Licence for the Inn was issued to William Sparke born 1796 again in 1831 and following his death in June 1832 it was issued to Mary Ann Sparke to her and again in 1833.
In 1834 the Licence is recorded as being held by John Nicholas however he moved to the Black Swan at West Maitland in 1835.
In June 1835 the Licence was issued to William Sparke (son of Edward Sparke), the Inn by now being known as the ‘Halfway House” between Maitland and Newcastle. “The Inn was popular with travellers for overnight stays and was patronised by many travellers, bishops and clergy amongst them for years to come. It was a recognised suitable place to transfer from the boat to land conveyances. Bishop Broughton sometimes brought his own vehicle from Sydney to the Hexham landing, the area about the Inn and wharf widely becoming known as “Sparkes”.”
In 1838 the Licence was held by Henry Geering and by 1840 Edward Greenland is recorded. A “Rose smith who arrived on the Mary in 1835 and Catherine Johnstone who arrived on the Henry Wellesley in 1837 were both assigned servants to Edward Greenland at the Inn in 1838.”
In April 1841 Edward Greenland had moved to the Singleton District and was granted a Licence for the St John Tavern and documents reveal that by June 1831 Charles Dee who had previously held Raymond Terrace’s Junction Inn Licence, had been granted the Licence for the Wheat Sheaf Inn.
For more information on the Wheat Sheaf Inn read the “THE MYSTERY OF THE HEXHAM BUNYIP” from The University of Newcastle – Living Histories
All the Friends of the Schoolmaster’s House, Ash Island, highly recommend you chasing down a copy of Edward James Sparke’s publication “A Remarkably Fine Place: William and Mary Sparke and their Descendants in the Lower Hunter 1824-1974” for further reading about this pioneer Hexham family.