Joseph Alfred Sparks was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 trade unionist and Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 politician.

Born in Tiverton, Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

, he was the son of Samuel Sparks. Following education at Uffculme

Uffculme

Uffculme is a village located in the Mid Devon district, of Devon, England.-History:Situated in the Blackdown Hills on the B3440, close to the M5 motorway, near Cullompton Uffculme is on the upper reaches of the River Culm. Historically, it was a parish in Bampton Hundred, under the Peculiar...

 School and the Central Labour College

Central Labour College

The Central Labour College was a British higher education institution supported by trade unions. It functioned from 1909 to 1929.The college was formed as a result of the Ruskin College strike of 1909. The Plebs' League, which had been formed around a core of Marxist students and former students of...

 in London, he entered employment with the Great Western Railway

Great Western Railway

The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...

 as a clerk.

He quickly became involved in the Labour movement, serving as election agent

Election agent

In elections in the United Kingdom, as well as in certain other similar political systems such as India's, an election agent is the person legally responsible for the conduct of a candidate's political campaign and to whom election material is sent to by those running the election. In elections in...

 for the party at Barnstaple

Barnstaple (UK Parliament constituency)

Barnstaple was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Barnstaple in Devon, in the South West of England. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until 1885, when its representation was reduced to one member.The constituency...

 in 1923

United Kingdom general election, 1923

-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...

 and at Taunton

Taunton (UK Parliament constituency)

Taunton was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and its predecessors from 1295 to 2010, taking its name from the town of Taunton in Somerset...

 in 1924

United Kingdom general election, 1924

- Seats summary :- References :* F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987* - External links :* * *...

. He subsequently moved to London where he was secretary of the South Kensington Labour Party. He entered local politics at Acton

Acton, London

Acton is a district of west London, England, located in the London Borough of Ealing. It is situated west of Charing Cross.At the time of the 2001 census, Acton, comprising the wards of East Acton, Acton Central, South Acton and Southfield, had a population of 53,689 people...

, Middlesex

Middlesex

Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...

, and was a member of both Acton Borough Council

Municipal Borough of Acton

Acton was a local government district in Middlesex, England from 1865 to 1965.In 1865 the Local Government Act 1858 was adopted by the parish of Acton, and a twelve-member local board of health was formed to govern the area. The Local Government Act 1894 constituted the area an urban district, and...

 and Middlesex County Council

Middlesex County Council

Middlesex County Council was the principal local government body in the administrative county of Middlesex from 1889 to 1965.The county council was created by the Local Government Act 1888, which also removed the most populous part of the county to constitute the County of London...

. He was mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 of Acton in 1957-58. he was also President of the London Region of the National Union of Railwaymen

National Union of Railwaymen

The National Union of Railwaymen was a trade union of railway workers in the United Kingdom. It an industrial union founded in 1913 by the merger of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants , the United Pointsmen and Signalmen's Society and the General Railway Workers' Union .The NUR...

 for ten years.

He made three unsuccessful attempts to enter the Commons, standing at Taunton

Taunton (UK Parliament constituency)

Taunton was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and its predecessors from 1295 to 2010, taking its name from the town of Taunton in Somerset...

 in 1929

United Kingdom general election, 1929

-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...

, Chelmsford

Chelmsford (UK Parliament constituency)

Chelmsford is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. From the 2010 general election it has elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

 in 1931

United Kingdom general election, 1931

The United Kingdom general election on Tuesday 27 October 1931 was the last in the United Kingdom not held on a Thursday. It was also the last election, and the only one under universal suffrage, where one party received an absolute majority of the votes cast.The 1931 general election was the...

 and Buckingham

Buckingham (UK Parliament constituency)

Buckingham is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...

 in 1935

United Kingdom general election, 1935

The United Kingdom general election held on 14 November 1935 resulted in a large, though reduced, majority for the National Government now led by Conservative Stanley Baldwin. The greatest number of MPs, as before, were Conservative, while the National Liberal vote held steady...

.

In 1945

United Kingdom general election, 1945

The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to...

, he was chosen to contest the parliamentary constituency of Acton

Acton (UK Parliament constituency)

- Elections in the 1940s :- Elections in the 1960s :-References:...

. There was a landslide

Landslide victory

In politics, a landslide victory is the victory of a candidate or political party by an overwhelming margin in an election...

 in favour of Labour, and he was able to win the seat, overturning a large Conservative

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 majority. Sparks held the seat until the 1959 Conservative landslide

United Kingdom general election, 1959

This United Kingdom general election was held on 8 October 1959. It marked a third successive victory for the ruling Conservative Party, led by Harold Macmillan...

, when it was gained by Philip Holland

Philip Holland

Sir Philip Welsby Holland was a British Conservative Party politician.Born in Northwich, Holland was educated at Sir John Deane's Grammar School, Northwich. He served with the Royal Air Force from 1936 to 1946 and was in the Middle East from 1938 to 1942...

.

He married Dora Brent in 1928, and he had 2 sons. He died in the London Borough of Brent

London Borough of Brent

In 1801, the civil parishes that form the modern borough had a total population of 2,022. This rose slowly throughout the 19th century, as the district became built up; reaching 5,646 in the middle of the century. When the railways arrived the rate of population growth increased...

 in January 1981, aged 79.

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