SOUTH WEST HERITAGE TRUST: Devon Archive Catalogue
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Emily Mary Sparkes (nee Lyster) known as Min, was born c. 1859 and died 1954. She married Herbert Weston Sheppard Sparkes (1859-1923), a solicitor, who qualified in Devon, and then practised in Devon, India and London; in 1922 he was elected Unionist MP for Devon, but died the next year. In Devon, they resided at Oakcliff, Dawlish Warren; then, in 1941, Min moved into Warren House, Dawlish Warren, before eventually moving in with her daughter c.1948 at Sedgewell House near Newton Abbot.
Min and Herbert had two children: a son, Warren (1893-1949), and a daughter, Leslie (1896-1984). After their return from India, Herbert's nephew, Etienne Geoffrey Milward (1896-1916), became part of the family, after his mother committed suicide in 1908 after a long seperation from his father. Etienne died of his wounds in action during the First World War, and therafter, Min faithfully records the anniversary of his death each year in her diaries.
Warren was in the Devonshire Regiment and served in the Royal Flying Corps (losing an eye) in the First World War. He married Marjorie Sandys, and they had two daughters, June and Eve. Leslie married Walter Page a barrister, then a KC/QC, and they had one daughter, Jo.
Herbert's sister, Katherine Anne Georgie Sparkes, married Geoffrey Lionel Milward, barrister, in 1895, but they seperated, and in 1908 Katherine committed suicide, leaving a son Etienne Geoffrey Milward aged 12. Herbert became Etienne's guardian, and Etienne became part of the family.
Associated with the Devon Remembers First World War Collection.
