Sparshott's family background was of
cooperage and trading. His paternal grandfather was Thomas Sparshott, a
cooper, who ran a hardware shop selling
casks and
turnery at Canon Street,
Winchester, and then, from 1832, at 17 High Street, Winchester, opposite the City Arms Inn. His paternal grandmother was Martha Brown. However Sparshott's parental background was financially insecure, and his work as a cooper may have partially paid for his training. His father was Henry Bartlett Sparshott, H.B. Sparshott's business revived, but failed again in 1874. He was nevertheless called a
gentleman and accepted for
jury service in Winchester. T. Sparshott Winchester warehouse advertisement (1a).JPG|1832 ad for Sparshott's grandfather's shop H. B. Sparshott Winchester warehouse advertisement (3).JPG|1870 ad for Sparshott's father's shop Sparshott, the second of five siblings, was born at
Farringdon, Hampshire, on 31 December 1841. He assisted at the marriage of his sister Henrietta in 1876. Henrietta's son was Reverend Thomas Sparshott Johnson, a missionary to
Colombo in
Ceylon from 1903 to 1904. His younger brother William assisted his father in the Anchor pub in
East Tisted, and afterwards in the hardware shop. His youngest brother, Edward, died aged nine in 1857, after a brief illness, and his youngest sister Fanny died in 1870, aged 24 years.
First marriage On 1 August 1867 at
Greenock, Renfrewshire, Scotland, Sparshott married Margaret McArthur. Margaret McArthur Sparshott died on 14 July 1885, aged 48, after suffering "acute mania" for twelve days, and then exhaustion. In 1930 a new nurses' home in Manchester was named Sparshott House in her memory, and there is a
blue plaque on the hospital in her honour.
Second marriage On 16 July 1890 at
Holy Trinity Church, Eastbourne, Sparshott married his second wife Laura Lavinia Haynes, who was twenty years his junior and outlived him by about twelve years. They were engineer Thomas, Frederick Walter, Laura Dorothy, Charles Henry, Nellie or Nelly, Rowland Frank N., Ernest Harold, Clarrie, and Rosalie Grace. By 1898, Sparshott had residences at
Wimbledon and The
Strand. According to the 1901 Census, Sparshott, his wife Laura, four of their children, one child from his first marriage (William Romaine, a ledger clerk), and three servants were living at 18 Queen's Road, South Wimbledon, Surrey. By 1911, Sparshott, his second wife, and five of the eight surviving children of that marriage were living at 9 Grosvenor Hill, Eureka,
Wimbledon, London. He lived there for the rest of his life, remaining active in church matters to the end. A few days before his death, he "took part in the meetings at the Priory-Street Institute in connection with the world's Evangelical Alliance Week of Prayer". He was buried on 13 January 1927 in St Andrew's churchyard, Hastings, after a choral service in the church. There were "many present" at the funeral, including the St Andrew's Women's Meeting, of which his wife was the leader. St Andrew's Church was demolished in 1970. ==Career==