John Sparke (died 1680)

John Sparke (1636 – 8 October 1680) of the Friary,[2] in the parish of St Jude, Plymouth, Devon, was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1677 to 1680.

Jonathan Sparke is mentioned in the Travel Journal of Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1642-1723) who was visiting Plymouth on 5 April 1669: The Sparke family's residence in Plymouth was the former Whitefriars Abbey, in the parish of St Jude, which after the Dissolution of the Monasteries was probably acquired by Giles and Gregory Iselham, who obtained possession of other ecclesiastical property in Plymouth.

The buildings were converted into a hospital for soldiers in the year 1794, when a deadly sickness was ravaging the troops detained at the port for the West India expedition.

Parts were used as dwellings, but Friary Court was thenceforth never considered a fashionable address.

He succeeded his father in 1673 and inherited extensive property in Plymouth, including the former Whitefriars Priory.

Arms of Sparke: Chequy or and vert, a bend ermine [ 1 ]
Friary Gate ( alias Sparke's Gate), Exeter Street, Plymouth. Photograph c.1890 showing "Sparke's Gate", an early 18th century rebuild of the dilapidated 13th century entrance to the Whitefriars Abbey, which had been acquired as their residence by the Sparke family after the Dissolution of the Monasteries