William Sparke

Memorial to Sir William Sparke and his second wife Mary, St. Audoen's Church, Dublin, erected by Lady Sparke in William's memory Sir William Sparke (died 1623) was an English-born judge in Ireland, whose memorial can still be seen in St. Audoen's Church, Dublin.

Career

He was born in Suffolk. He studied law at Thavie's Inn, and then Lincoln's Inn. He was called to the Bar in 1594.

He was sent back to Ireland as a justice of the Court of King's Bench (Ireland) in 1610. with an assurance of becoming second justice in due course.

He attended several sessions of the Parliament of Ireland of 1613–15, to act as legal adviser to the Irish House of Lords, as was customary for High Court judges at the time (Sir John Elliott, Baron of the Exchequer, attended these sessions in the same capacity). He died in 1623, and was remembered as a learned and upright judge.

The Sparke Memorial

He married firstly Elizabeth Hales, and secondly Mary Bryce or Brice, daughter of John Bryce, Mayor of Dublin 1605–6, and widow of John Hoey, Sergeant-at-arms in Ireland, and of Roger Downton.

It was Mary who erected the memorial to William, which can still be seen in the North Nave of St Audoen's Church, Cornmarket, Dublin. The memorial features a pediment and Corinthian columns; Mary is shown kneeling beside William. Other figures on the memorial represent Mary's first husband John Hoey and her parents, John Bryce and Katherine Sedgrave. A memorial to Joan Sparke, who was probably William's sister, and her husband Stephen Sedgrave stands side by side with Sparke Memorial.