Walter Shaw Sparrow

[5] In 1855, James Sparrow had become proprietor of Ffrwd Works,[6] a large colliery, ironworks and brickworks between Brymbo and Cefn-y-bedd, which he expanded into one of the most prominent businesses in North Wales.

[7] Sparrow in his boyhood got to know many of his father's colliers, furnacemen, blacksmiths, carpenters and farmworkers, and gained respect and admiration for the men, whom he described as "so big, strong, simple-hearted, and kind".

[1] Sparrow started school at Chester College, which he recounts as "devoted to science" and as opening his eyes to botany, chemistry and physiology.

[9] During long school holidays at home in his early teens (1875–1879), he spent time with the professional artist William Joseph J. C. Bond, who was staying with the family.

[9] At van Severdonck's suggestion, he set up a small studio in Brussels, so that his support from home could be supplemented by earnings from drawing classes and English lessons, by selling a few paintings, and by submitting four articles approved by the editor Ponsonby Ogle for publication in The Globe newspaper.

[11] From 1896 to 1899 she took part in productions with a group of actors on an extended overseas tour, performing as far afield as Australia and New Zealand and returning to England in September 1899.

"[2] However, he is best remembered for books on British sporting artists, and took delight in researching what he called "family news" from parish registers, wills and other documents, in the process discovering several errors in previously accepted information on them.

[15] In 1942, Edward Croft-Murray gave five drawings of named racehorses by the 18th-century horse painter James Seymour to the British Museum "in memory of the late Walter Shaw Sparrow".