William Spark
Spark, William, 1823-1897
William Spark (28 October 1823 – 16 June 1897) was an English musician, writer, composer and organist based in Leeds.
Early life and education
Spark was born in Exeter on 28 October 1823 and died in Leeds on 16 June 1897. He was a chorister at Exeter Cathedral and studied with the composer Samuel Sebastian Wesley in his home town of Exeter in 1840 and moved with him to Leeds in 1842.
Career
Spark's first post was as deputy organist to Wesley at Leeds Parish Church in 1842. He then worked as organist and choirmaster at Chapeltown Church.
In 1850 Spark was appointed organist to St George's Church. In 1859 he helped to design the organ for Leeds Town Hall together with Henry Smart. The following year he was appointed Leeds Municipal Organist and held the post until his death in 1897.
He was a major contributor to the musical life of 19th-century Leeds. He founded the Leeds Madrigal and Motet Society and the Leeds Recreation Society.
The public source identifies “William Spark” as spark, William, 1823-1897. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around William, Spark and 1823-1897.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 7, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q2289179. VIAF identifies the subject as 47127753. The Library of Congress control number is no2003070486. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1823, 1897, 1840 and 1842.
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This entry incorporates text from “William Spark” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.