Trafford

Born during the June quarter 1884 in the Altrincham R.D. - ref: 8a/174, the
son of  Andrew Curtis & Mary Sparkes (nee Greaves).

In 1881 his father was a Furniture Remover at 29 School Road, Sale -
possibly where Frank was born?

1891 Census - Oldfield, Dunham Massey.   Son - aged: 7 - born: Dunham
Massey.    Head of household - Andrew C. Sparkes - Married - aged: 38 -
occ: Farmer - born: Old Trafford.   Also - Mary Sparkes - Wife - aged: 38 -
born: Dunham Massey.  Plus 2 elder brothers and 2 domestic servants.

1901 Census - Oldfield Road, Altrincham.   Son - aged: 17 - occ: Gear
Cutter on Milling Machine - born: Sale.   Head of household - Mary Sparkes
- Married - aged: 46 - born: Dunham Massey.  Plus 1 elder brother.  His
father - Andrew C. Sparkes was residing at Park Farm, Dunham Massey - aged:
48 - occ: Farmer.

Married Frances Elizabeth Sant during the December quarter 1904 - ref:
8a/307.  In 1901, Frances was a 21 year old domestic servant at a house on
Groby Road, Altrincham.

1911 Census - No Trace.     Frances was residing with her mother and her
two daughters at 51 Priory Street, Bowdon.  Aged: 31 - born: Latchford,
Cheshire.  Both Frances and her mother were recorded as being employed as
Laundress' (at home).  His widow died in 1964 at this same address.

He was a cab driver (horse drawn?) with a rank opposite the Griffin P.H.  

MIC - enlisted on the 8th September 1914 and was discharged through
sickness on the 29th June 1917.

Receiving spinal injuries on the Somme from which he died in 1919 after
discharge in 1917.   Buried on the 05/03/1919 - Burial No. 30/1643.

M.I. - "At Rest".

Mrs Frances Sparkes, whose husband Frank had died of wounds, received a
grant from the "John Sington Fund" that enabled her to send her 14 year old
daughter on a shorthand training course - another investment into the
future for a fatherless girl.

The John Sington Fund - John Sington was the son of Adolphus Sington, a
Jewish Prussian shipping merchant who came to Britain and in 1845 became a
naturalised citizen.   Adolphus had his own company, involved originally in
the production of linen and cotton, and later the import and export of
machinery for the cotton industry.  John and at least one of his brothers
worked in their father's business in Princess Street, Manchester.

In 1885 John married Mildred Campbell Maclure, daughter of Sir John William
Maclure, Bt., who became MP for Stretford the following year.  John and
Mildred had two sons, Alan John Campbell Sington and Edward Claude Sington.
 In 1914 both sons enlisted in the British Army, and their father is listed
in The Gazette in 1915 as Major John Sington, Royal Engineers Territorial
Force Reserve.   In 1909 the Sington family moved from Whalley Range to
Dunham House, on Charcoal Road, Dunham.

When Major John Sington's two sons returned safely from active service
during WW1 he established a fund 'as a Thanksgiving Offering for their safe
return for the benefit of the wives, children and dependants of any men
who, as a result of service with His Majesty's Forces or the Mercantile
Marine, have died or been killed or disabled, and for the benefit of any
members of His Majesty's Forces or the Mercantile Marine who have been
disabled as a result of such service.'   The fund's scope was limited to
those who had been resident in the Urban District of Bowdon or the village
of Dunham Town for at least six months.

Six trustees were appointed, namely, John Bleckly, Henry Edwin Gaddum,
William Alfred Hampson, Joseph Kenworthy, Joseph Watson Sidebotham and the
Major himself.  The Clerk to the Trustees was Willis Paterson the Bowdon
UDC Solicitor, 11 Stamford Street, Altrincham to whom applications for
grants had to be made.    Information about the Fund and its beneficiaries
was kindly supplied by Cynthia Hollingworth from the records kept in
Trafford Local Studies Library.