Edward Sparshott

Admiral Edward Sparshott (3 March 1788 – 9 November 1873) was a Royal Navy officer who served in the Napoleonic Wars. As midshipman on HMS Centaur, flagship of Sir Samuel Hood, he was present at the surrender of Madeira. As captain, he commanded HMS Prince Regent, and HMS Winchester, flagships of Sir Henry Blackwood and Sir Thomas Bladen Capel, besides HMS Rochfort as post-captain under Charles Marsh Schomberg. He retired as captain, and ended his life with the rank of retired admiral.

Sparshott was descended from a Hampshire farming family, and was the youngest of eleven siblings. His brother was Commander Samuel Sparshott, R.N.

Background

Sparshott came from a Hampshire family. His paternal grandparents were husbandman John Sparshott of Soberton, and Elizabeth née Hall, who married in 1730. His parents were Daniel Sparshott and Mary née Sparkman, who was illiterate. and had eleven children, of which Edward was the youngest. Daniel Sparshott was later described as a gentleman.

Edward Sparshott was born in Kingsley, or Portsea on 3 March 1788, His brother, the seventh of the eleven siblings, was Commander Samuel Sparshott, R.N. His brothers James and Daniel, fourth and fifth siblings respectively, were pursers in the Royal Navy.

At St Pancras Old Church on 16 August 1843, at the age of 45, Sparshott married Sarah Cooper, who was 20 or 25 years old, and literate. Their daughter Sarah was born on 5 December 1843. Their son Adolphus Edward, a major of the Royal Marines, was born on 7 December 1845. Both children were born in Brompton, London. In 1851 he was living with his wife, two children and two servants in Clarence Cottage, Bridge Road, Marylebone, London, and describing himself as a retired captain R.N., with a "good service pension". Sparshott and his family were living in Botley House, High Street, Botley, Hampshire, from at least 1855 until at least 1873. The 1861 census finds the family living in the High Street, Botley, with Sparshott describing himself as a retired rear-admiral, R.N.

Sparshott died on 9 November 1873 at Botley House, 25 High Street, Botley, Hampshire, which is now a listed building. His death was noted in various places, including Bombay, and London. His will was proved at Winchester on 7 January 1874. He was buried in, or close to, the narthex of All Saints Church, Botley, Hampshire. In 2006, the narthex was demolished, and a two-storey extension with kitchen and toilets built in its place. Headstones and monuments were "relocated", and the planning application noted that "graves may be rendered inaccessible".

Career Midshipman, 1801–1808 Sparshott joined the Royal Navy as midshipman on 23 July 1801, Beaver was employed on the north coast of Ireland until September 1802. Between January 1803 and March 1805 he served in the cutter HMS Pigmy of 14 guns, at Guernsey under lieutenant commanders Samuel Burgess and Martin White. From March 1805 until December 1807, he was appointed to the sloop HMS Hazard, of 16 guns, under Captain R. J. Neve, and HMS Niobe, of 40 guns, under Captain John Wentworth Loring and Captain Matthew Wentworth Scott. "While cruizing with Captain Loring off L'Orient he assisted the capture, 28 March 1806, of Le Néarque corvette of 16 guns and 97 men, in company at the time with three French frigates".

Lieutenant, 1808–1821 Sparshott passed his lieutenant examination on 2 March 1808. On 16 July 1808, in the Baltic Sea as acting-lieutenant, he was given command of the prize-cutter HMS Baltic, of 14 guns. On 28 April 1809, he was formally promoted to lieutenant, "for his zeal and activity in [HMS Baltic] in effecting the capture of as many as 21 sail of merchantmen". From 8 July, On 15 April 1821, he was appointed to Rochfort as 1st lieutenant. In 1824 he was appointed to the Coast Guard. he was appointed second captain of HMS Prince Regent, of 120 guns, under the flag of Sir Henry Blackwood, based on the River Medway near Chatham Dockyard.

[At some date between 1828 and 1832, in the 74-gun HMS Rochfort, under Captain C.M. Schomberg, Lt Sparshott] now an old post-captain, [was] as strict a disciplinarian, and as smart an officer, as could well be met with. Ships of war had not, in those days, arrived at that flying method of performing their various evolutions to which they have now attained; but the Rochfort'''s ship's company were smart in all their motions. Indeed, with Mr. S., they must be so; for although every order was rigorously enforced, it was done without a shadow of tyranny. As captain of Winchester'', he "rendered important services in quelling an insurrection on the coast of Malabar in 1837". at £365 per annum, then promoted to retired vice-admiral on 4 or 13 October 1862. He was finally promoted to retired-admiral on 2 April 1866, and retained this rank until his death in 1873.

Greenwich out-pensioner, 1846–1873

Sparshott was accepted as an out-pensioner of Greenwich Hospital, London, on 4 November 1846. He received the Order of the Red Eagle, making him a Knight of the Red Eagle of Prussia (K.R.E.), from the King of Prussia in 1832.

Business In 1841, when both Sparshott and his brother Samuel were captains, they were patrons of the floating breakwater which had been invented by captain Tayler. The breakwater protected harbours from ocean swell, and was said to be less liable to storm damage than rigid wooden structures. It was a commercial endeavour which called for investors.