Sykes family of Sledmere

William Sykes (1500–1577), migrated to the West Riding of Yorkshire, settling near Leeds, and he and his son became wealthy cloth traders.

Daniel Sykes (born 1632) was the first member of the family to begin trading in Hull and amassed a fortune from shipping and finance.

Richard Sykes (1678–1726) diversified further, concentrating on the flourishing Baltic trade in bar iron, and the wealth of the family was built on this in the first half of the eighteenth century.

He was succeeded by his younger brother, Sir Tatton Sykes, 4th Baronet (1772–1863), who had an interest in agricultural techniques and horse racing.

[2] His only son, Sir Tatton Sykes (1826–1913), developed into a rather withdrawn man who sold his father's stud for £30,000 and restored seventeen churches.

Mark Sykes was elected MP for Central Hull in 1911 and occupied himself for the early part of the First World War establishing the Waggoner's Special Reserve.

The family archives include correspondence with Winston Churchill, Austen Chamberlain, Chaim Weizmann, Arthur Balfour, Francois Georges-Picot, T. E. Lawrence, Nahum Sokolow, C P Scott, W Ormesby-Gore, Sir Ronald Storrs, Alfred Dowling, E G Browne, Francis Maunsell, Grant Dalton and Oswald Fitzgerald.