Sproston People

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This area of the site focuses on individuals and families in the Sproston trees. I will add to this list as and when I receive information which I can use. On the whole, these are people for whom I have a reasonable amount of information including photographs.

If you have a Sproston you would like to add to this page, please contact me with details of their story and a photograph if possible.

Leonard & Emma Sproston born 1832 Shrewsbury
'Red' Emma Sproson
John Glendy Sproston
John Sproston born Spain 1832
Hugh and Horatia Sproston
Harriet & Albert Sproston
Frank Sproston born Burslem 1887 & his family
Leonard Sproston died Gallipoli 1915
'Teddy' Sproston & The Cheshire Roads Club
William Sproston born 1763 Wrenbury
The London Apprentices
Ellen Sproson
The Sprosons at Port Vale Football Club
James Sproston, Joiner of Wheelock 1811-1855
Frank Sproston born Audley 1895
Leonard Sproston born Fenton, Stoke on Trent 1898
Thomas Broadhurst Sproston born Middlewich 1864

Leonard & Emma Sproston (part of the Challener/Shropshire US branch)

Leonard is part of the Challener branch. The following passage was kindly written by his great grandson, Daniel Brown:

'Leonard Sproston, my great grandfather, was a seminal figure in the history of the western US branch of the Sproston family. Dozens of Americans now living in various parts of the United States are descended from Leonard and his wife Emma.
Leonard was born in April of 1832 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. The fourth of five sons born to Isaac Sproston, a coach proprietor, Leonard was left fatherless at the age of eleven months when Isaac was killed in a stagecoach accident at Long Compton in Warwickshire. Pregnant with her fifth son at the time of Isaac's death, Leonard's mother Mary Smith Sproston likely had little or no income with which to provide for her five young sons following Isaac's death. As a result, by the time he was eighteen in 1851 Leonard was working as a farm servant in the Bicton Heath area of Shrewsbury. Ten years later he had raised himself sufficiently in the world that he was independent, a cattle dealer, still living in Bicton Heath with his older brother Samuel, also a cattle dealer. In July of 1866 Leonard married Emma Breeze in Herefordshire, and two months later their first child, Mary was born. By 1877 Leonard had been dealing in cattle for more than twenty years, a fact that was commemorated by his friends and well wishers in Montgomeryshire, Wales, who presented Leonard with a silver wishing cup congratulating him for his success and his "upright conduct as a cattle dealer." By 1883, Leonard and Emma had produced ten children, two of whom had died in childhood. That year, at the age of fifty-one, Leonard, Emma and their eight surviving children left Bicton Heath and moved to California.
Misfortune seems to have stalked Leonard and Emma from the moment they left England. On the train trip from New York to California, their youngest child, John Isaac Benjamin, just a few months old, apparently died as the train passed through Council Bluffs, Iowa. When they arrived in California, Leonard and Emma settled on property in the dry, oak-studded hills of Calistoga above the Napa Valley. Within a year, their oldest child, Mary, 18, married a widower, George Washington Tucker, 53, who as a young man had participated in the rescue of the ill-fated Donner Party. But three years later, following the birth of her second child, Emma Eugenia, Mary died at the age of 21. Over the next two decades, most of Leonard and Emma's surviving children married and started families. An exception was William Smith Sproston, who preferred to live alone, as a bachelor, and became a hermit living far back in the wild redwood country of Humboldt County in northwestern California.
Leonard died in Calistoga on April 5, 1906, at the age of seventy-four. Emma went the following week to San Francisco to be with her daughter Sydney and Sydney's husband William Brown. Emma was still staying with them in their apartment above the saloon that they owned and was fixing William his breakfast at 5:12 am on the morning of April 18th when the Great San Francisco Earthquake struck. The quake and the fire that followed it destroyed the saloon and their home. Emma, Sydney, and William had to run for their lives to escape the flames. That night, having no shelter, they lay out in the open in Golden Gate Park, and Sydney, either from illness or from an injury suffered in the quake came near to dying before being taken to a field hospital run by the Red Cross. Several days later Emma, nearly hysterical with grief and worry, wrote home to her boys in Calistoga, ruing the day that she had left England. Emma died six weeks later on June 1, 1906.'

Below is a photograph showing Emma (sitting) and her children (her daughter, Sydney, is sitting at her feet on the left):

To follow is a copy of Emma's letter home in 1906. The notes in brackets are by Sydney's grandson:

East of the Music Stand
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco

My dear boys. There is no doubt but what you have been thinking of us, but the mail was all done up with. Oh my God, I cannot write. I am so sick and nervous. It was a cursed day when I left home. [By which I think she meant England.] I cannot crawl around in the tent. My darling Sydney is in the Red X hospital. The fever has not left her yet, or perhaps never will. She has an ice bag on her stomach and one on her head. My God she lay three nights out after having been almost given up by her doctor and was hauled three times in a wagon for safety after that heaven forgotten earthquake. There are still big shocks two or three times a day. I was up getting William's breakfast and was just going to call him at fifteen minutes after five o'clock [in the morning, which is when the earthquake struck]. Oh my god the memory nearly has crazed me. I cannot go to see Sydney. If I should get permission I cannot walk. Billy [her husband, my grandfather] goes to see her every day. You cannot write to me unless you can address it to P [illegible] as perhaps I can get Billy to call for it and he knows where she lives. They get a permit to go. It is impossible for me as I cannot walk to the ferry. You can come from home--William knows the place well. If you try or are seen with luggage you would be shot down. [In fact hundreds of suspected looters were shot in the days following the quake.] No one in the fire that was burn out, no need to pay a cent for themselves or baggage. There is plenty to eat and blankets and thrown off clothing. Billy was burned out, home and saloon and everything, clothes, furniture and all. I hope you did not send my trunk and that you are doing better. God grant you will never see the horrors I have seen. Well my dears, be good. I hope your are looking after everything alright. Don't make light of the little furniture we have. Just think of people in splendor--and to be penniless and homeless in ten minutes. I must close with much love and kisses to you three boys.

From your mother, Emma Sproston
I would come home only I want to see how my Sydney turns out.
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'Red' Emma Sproson

Born in 1867, Emma Lloyd Sproson was an early suffragette in Wolverhampton. She was born in West Bromwich, one of seven children of a canal boat builder. She met Frank Sproson, the local Independent Labour Party (ILP) party secretary in 1895 and they married the following year. The Pankhurst sisters stayed with the family when they came to speak in Wolverhampton, and in 1907 Emma joined a march in London, where she was arrested and imprisoned in Holloway (the first of several incarcerations). In later life, Emma stood as the local candidate and won the Dunstall Ward. She died in 1936. Read more about Emma here.

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John Glendy Sproston

We don't yet know who John's father was (possibly George S Sproston, a surgeon's mate aboard the Frigate Congress in the War of 1812), or the year that he was born, but we do know that he fought in the American Civil War under Du Pont and was killed in 1862. He was commended for 'gallant and daring conduct' during the destruction of the rebel pirate Judith.

In 1860 he is listed on the census as Glendy Sproston and is living with his wife? Jane in Baltimore, Maryland. He had sailed to Japan in 1854 and his journal of this (and other voyages) is still available to buy. Possibly the USS Sproston takes its name from John Glendy.

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John Sproston, born Spain 1832

John first appears in the 1880 San Francisco census, with his wife Mary (born 1847, New Jersey) and daughter May (born 1870, Nevada). He is stated as being 'in life assurance'. It is assumed that this is the same John Sproston (junior) who is involved with the Argonaut Mill and Mining Company (a goldmining operation), and the John Sproston Trust. I suspect that John may be associated with the Challener branch, some children of which were born in Gibraltar.

A bond from the Argonaut Company and a photograph of the mine can be seen below.

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Hugh and Horatia Sproston (part of the Challener branch)

Hugh was born 1820 in Gibraltar and is a part of the Challener branch. He became an export merchant and ship owner, based in London. His ships were: 'Berbice' Built 1859, 'Georgetown' " 1873, 'Lady Longden' " 1876, 'Princess' " 1876, 'Guiana' " 1879, 'Charlestown' " 1880, 'Sproston Wood' "1881, 'Cuyuni' " 1883. (Sproston Wood was the name of the house where the Sprostons of Wrenbury lived). Hugh, his wife Horatia and his son Manning can all be seen entering the US via Ellis Island (see file).
Hugh is probably also the Sproston connected with Sproston Wharf in Guyana (where the Queen landed during her visit to the country), and with the ownership of plantations and ship building enterprises in that area.

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Harriet & Albert Sproston

Harriet was born in Wybunbury, Cheshire in 1871, one of 12 children of Samuel (a labourer at the railway works) and Elizabeth. She married Henry Preston in 1892 and they moved to Crewe, and later Blackburn. Henry drove a horse and delivery wagon for a brewery there. After the First World War, two of Harriet's children, Samuel and Nathaniel, emmigrated to the US where they worked in the cotton mills of New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Below is a picture of Harriet Sproston Preston and her brother Albert taken about 1910, he was about 17 - 20 years.

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Frank Sproston born 1887, Burslem Staffs & his family

Frank, the son of Elijah Sproston & Elizabeth Broom, is pictured in his horse & cart, with his ice-cream trailer behind. The picture has the definite date of late summer 1911 as the child being held by Frank's wife, Ethel Sproston (nee Dale, above), is Bernard Edgar Sproston, their oldest child born on 31st May 1911. The photo is taken in Thomas St., Packmoor, Stoke-on-Trent, outside their then home, 7 Thomas St.. This small village is adjacent to Newchapel & was where Frank & Ethel raised their 5 sons & 3 daughters. Though, at a later date they moved to a 3 bed-roomed house in Lorraine St., Packmoor.
The ice-cream, which he sold, was reputed by a great many of the older generation to be 'the finest in North Staffordshire', being thick & creamy both in it's colour & consistency. He also loved wheeling & dealing, a trait, which he probably inherited from his father Elijah, who is himself listed in one trade directory for 1912, as being a shopkeeper & general dealer in Thomas St.. I think that the shop in the picture was Elijah's & it later became renowned as 'Stevie Brockley's' fish & chip shop. Frank's physical strength was legendary & it was said that he was never defeated in any challenge of a trial of strength. During the 30's & 40's he owned & ran 4 smallholdings, as well as his other businesses, all at the same time. About 1942, one of his pigsties, along with about 20 live pigs was destroyed, in what the police said was an arson attack. Though no one was ever charged with the offence. For the rest of his days Frank believed that the fire had been started by an aggrieved, defeated opponent who had lost money, during a trial of strength with Frank. Later, his businesses were all sold, due to his ill-health & the fact that his sons had become coalminers and did not want to become involved on a full time basis.
Frank died in Maborn in 1949, aged 62yrs & is buried in St. James' Churchyard, Newchapel.
(many thanks to Derek, Frank's grandson,for this history, and for the pictures and text below).

Gladys Emily (below) born 1913 in Newchapel was the eldest daughter of Frank. She was one of eight children, all born in and around the Newchapel area of Staffordshire. Gladys married George Frost in 1934 and they had five children together. She passed away in 1987.

George was the husband of Gladys Emily Sproston.
The photo above was taken about 1934, perhaps on his 21st birthday. The badge he is wearing denotes membership of the Christian Fellowship of St. James’ The Apostle Church, Newchapel, where he was a regular and avid member of the congregation until his awful experiences in WW2 totally changed his outlook on life. These experiences changed him from being a steadfast, upright member of the community into an all-out, full-time Jack the Lad, who believed that life is for today and the Devil take tomorrow. He remained a very popular and respected man, by all who knew him, despite this change in attitude. George died suddenly on July 25th 1981, at the family home since 1947, at 27 Moorland Road, Mow Cop, Stoke-on-Trent. Though his death was sudden, it came after many years of suffering chronic chest illnesses, bought on by pot bank and mining dust and also perhaps by exposure to the extreme cold of the Atlantic Ocean, this latter being caused by having the unenviable experience of being a gunner on ships, which were sunk by German U boats on two separate occasions.

Wedding Day August 4th 1934. The wedding of of Gladys and George took place at St. James’ The Apostle, Newchapel
Bride: Gladys Emily Sproston (aged 21+); Groom: George William Frost (aged 20+)
Brides Maids:
(left) Winifred Sproston (aged 17) ( bride’s sister);
(right) Hilda Hodgson (aged 24+) (bride to be of Bernard Sproston);
Small bridesmaid: Evelyn Sproston (aged 9) ( bride’s sister)
Best Man: Bernard Sproston (aged 23+) (bride’s brother, he is peering over the shoulder of his future bride)
Taken outside 7 Thomas St., Packmoor, Stoke-on-Trent, the home of Frank and Ethel Sproston and their family. Judging by the standard of dress on this and all the other photos of Frank Sproston and family, they could not be considered a poor family.

Cloud over the Wedding day - This second picture on the right (above) shows the bride & groom with (from the right) Frank Sproston; a lady believed to be
**Elizabeth Sproston, (Frank’s mother, the wife of Elijah); Ethel Sproston (Frank’s wife) & on the left is Hannah Elizabeth Johnson (formerly Frost nee Dodd).
This lady was George’s mother who remarried in 1921, after Ernest Frost her husband, was killed at Ypres in November 1914. It seems that, in order to satisfy some type of protocol of the time, George’s stepfather, William Johnson, has been deliberately left off this group as he possibly wasn’t considered to be ‘true’ family. That’s the only explanation that I can think of, as William is present on other photos, taken at the same time.

Arnold Sproston (below)
Arnold was the second youngest son of this Sproston family. He remained a bachelor throughout life, living at ‘Melbrae’ with his widowed mother Ethel, until her death in 1966. After which there followed a short period of living with his sister Evelyn and family. He then went to live in a flat, alone; seeming to prefer his own company. The family always believed that he became so withdrawn because he had loved a girl very deeply in his youth but she jilted him and he never came to terms with it. He worked for many, many years at a national bakery in Newcastle-under -Lyme, on permanent night shift. The pictures date from 7th August 1946 and c. 1936/38.

Winifred Sproston (see below)
Winifred Sproston with her husband to be William Leech probably taken just after the end of WW2. They were married in 1949 at the Sproston family’s parish church, St. James’, Newchapel.
The studio photo taken in a full size car gives another indication that only the best was good enough for the family, at the time. If it had been taken at a nondescript photographer’s then such impressive props would have been totally out of the question and it therefore follows that such professionalism costs the customer.
On the right below is a 21st birthday photo of Winifred taken in 1938.

Eric Sproston (see below)
Frank Sproston’s third eldest son Eric with his wife to be Irene Guest. Dates unknown, but the photo of him on the right must have been taken before March 1948, as it was taken behind his sister Gladys’ family bungalow, 26 Newtown, Newchapel.. Gladys, George and family moved from there in March 1948. Eric was a miner throughout his working life. Probably starting at Chatterley Whitfield Colliery, moving to Hanley Deep Colliery and then to Wolstanton Colliery, which when opened, was publicised as having the deepest shafts in Europe. Even after reaching retirement age he still continued to work, as he was the type of man who could never sit still. He helped out at his son-in-laws business, he erected fencing, and he also did gardening for other people, right up until his untimely sudden death in 2003, aged 82. Irene and he lived in Princess Street in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent and then they moved to Fegg Hayes, Stoke –on-Trent a couple of miles up the road, in the 1950’s.

Bernard Edgar Sproston (below) born 31st May 1911 at Packmoor, Stoke-on-Trent, the eldest son of Frank and Ethel. In the picture with him are his devoted wife; Hilda Hodgson and Bernard Melvin their only child. Bernard snr worked as a collier at Chatterley Whitfield Colliery, Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent. Everyone spoke very highly of him and it was often said that he was one of the elite few who was never heard to utter a swear word; not even when down the pit, amongst the men who were often considered to be the dregs of society; which takes a very special person indeed. For all of his life, until his very premature death from salmonella poisoning in 1953, Bernard was a deeply religious man, as are his wife and son to this day. Hilda, will be 94 years old in October of 2003 and lives in Derbyshire with Bernard jnr. and his wife Elaine. Bernard jnr. was a C. of E. minister for many years, having recently retired. Bernard snr. died on 23rd September 1953 in Bucknall hospital and is buried in the church yard at St. James' The Apostle, Newchapel.

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Leonard Sproston, died 1915 Gallipoli (part of the Challener branch)

Leonard was the grandson of Thomas Samuel Carr Sproston, part of the Challener branch, who emigrated to Australia in the 1850s. He had two bother, the twins Frank and Walter, both of whom died in 1892, aged two, before Leonard was born. All three boys are commemorated on a tombstone in Melbourne Cemetery, although Leonard was buried at sea, having died of his wounds in April 1915. He is the only Sproston of Australian birth to have been killed in any war (to my knowledge). I have requested a copy of Leonard's service record, and when this is available I will add it to the website.
Leonard's obituary appeared in the Melbourne Age in May 1915:
"Private Leonard George Sproston attained the age of 21 on !st January of this year. He was a market gardener at Clayton prior to joining the forces, when he became attached to B Co. 7th Battalion. Mr. Sproston was a member of the choir of the Clayton Presbyterian Church, and was very popular among his friends in that town, being particularly well remembered as a singer and humorous entertainer at local musical functions. His favorite [sic] sport was tennis. His parents reside at 3 Filson-street, Ascot Vale".

Many Sprostons (and variants) died in the two World Wars; in a way, I have chosen Leonard to represent them all. He should have been awarded the Anzac Medallion, but as this was not issued until 1967 his family may never have received it:

Lest we forget.

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'Teddy' Sproston & The Cheshire Roads Club

Edward, or Teddy Sproston was born in 1897 in Hale, Cheshire, and was one of the founding members of the Cheshire Roads Club, a cycling club based in north east Cheshire. He held many club records and was their president for some years.

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William Sproston born 1763 Wrenbury(part of the Challener branch)

Part of the Challener branch, William was the son of John Sproston and Elizabeth Manning. He became headmaster of the Royal Grammar School in High Wycombe:

William Sproston was appointed school master in 1796 and stayed for 45 years. He was quite a character. He fell out with the Trustees and was sacked but took them to court and was reinstated (1816). He also became a mayor of the town and was even Disraeli's local agent in the elections of 1832 and 1834. As a result of reforms in local government in the 1830's the Charities Commission took over control of the Foundation. The master's salary went up to £50 and some new buildings were erected alongside the crumbling medieval ruins. The new building was tastefully done in the new vogue for 'Gothic'. Sproston died in 1841 and the school went down hill once again. His successor was declared a bankrupt and sacked and the appointment was given to a curate of the parish church in Wycombe.(source).

William's memorial is at All Saints, High Wycombe:

The Momument is located on the wall inside the church, as you stand at the back of the church looking towards the front the monument is on the right hand side second in from the Altar (our ref H 53) It reads as follows >
Sacred / to the memory of / William Sproston / of High Wycombe gentleman/ who departed this life / the 26th day of January 1841/ in his 78th year / a faithful director of / the Royal Free Grammar School/ in this borough/ for 47 years / go and do thou likewise/this tablet is rrrect / by his only surviving / and beloved brother Samuel Sproston Esquire / of Sproston Wood Wrenbury/ in the county of Chester. (Wall tablet by Sanders New Road Fitzroy Sqre London).

View William's will here - pdf.

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The London Apprentices

The following Sproston people were all apprentices to various London Trade Companies, or members of the Companies themselves, at one time or another. As they are all very early they have yet to be liked into any family in the database:

- Robert Sproston, son of Robert, Chester, Cheshire, gentleman, to Samuel Pillchard, Founder's Company 21 Jan 1678/9
- Samuel Sproston, son of Robert, citizen and founder, to Thomas Peircy, Turner's Company 17 May 1721
- Samuel Sproston, son of Robert, Shoe Lane, Middlesex, founder (deceased), to Mark Bailey, Gold and Silver Wyre Drawyers' Company 10 May 1722 (free)
- John Richardson, son of John, Shadwell, Middlesex, mariner, to Robert Sproston, Founder's Company 7 Mar 1693/4
- Joan Greene, daughter of Jacob, Coventry Warwickshire, parchment maker (deceased), to Benjamin Sproson, Pinmaker's Company 1 Mar 1692/3
- Samuel Smith, son of Samuel, St Peter Cornhill, London, barber (deceased), to Benjamin Sproson Pinmaker's Company 5 Oct 1696
- Sarah Lye, daughter of William, Esher Surrey, parchment maker, to Benjamin Sproson, Pinmaker's Company 1 Jul 1706
- Elizabeth Sproson, daughter of William, St Saviour Southwark, Surrey, bricklayer, to Arthur Stephens of same, Pinmaker's Company 27 Jun 1698
- Lydia Elcocke, daughter of Ephraim, Bermondsey Surrey, gardener, to John Sproson, Pinmaker's Company 5 May 1697
- Lydia Allen, daughter of George, Sussex, to John Sproson of Bermondsey, Surrey, Pinmaker's Company 8 Jan 1699/1700
- Martha Harris, daughter of John, Bermondsey, Surrey, tanner, to Mary Sproson, Pinmaker's Company 26 Mar 1722

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Ellen Sproson

Ellen was born in 1880 in Paddington, Middlesex. At the time of the 1881 census she was an inmate of the Harrow Road Workhouse, where she appears to have no living parents. A large proportion of the workhouse inmates are young women, domestic servants by trade, and their babies, all apparantly illegitimate.
So who was Ellen's mother, and did she die in childbirth? And did Ellen survive a childhood in the workhouse and live to have a family of her own? To date I have no record of her marriage, or indeed her death, so perhaps we shall never know.

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The Sprosons at Port Vale Football Club

Jesse, Roy and Phil Sproson all played a key role in the history of Port Vale. Jesse signed in 1940 and appeared 38 times for the club until he retired due to injury in 1947. His brother, Roy, first appeared in 1950 and appeared 837 times for the club (a club record) until 1972. Jesse's son, Phil, played first in 1977 and continued until 1989 when he retired with a back injury, having appeared for the club 495 times. For more info on the Sprosons at Port Vale, see the Port Vale fan club website.

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James Sproston, Joiner of Wheelock 1811 -1855

James was the son of John and Nancy Sproston, who lived around the Bradwall/Wheelock area of Cheshire, near Sandbach. He was born in Tunstall in 1811 but seems to have lived most of his life around Sandbach and was working as a joiner at Wheelock Wharf at the time of the 1851 census. James, one of six children, married a local woman named Ann, and they lived together in Wheelock, but had no children.
In March of 1855 James made a new will (now available on the Wills Page); this left various aspects of his business and property to his siblings and their children, but made no provision whatsoever for his wife, who was four years his junior. Less than one month later, on 27th April 1855, James murdered his wife with a sword and then shot himself at their home one morning just after breakfast. An article relating to the murder and suicide appeared in the Times Newspaper on 30th April 1855 - click here to view this.

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Frank Sproston, born Church St, Butt Lane 1895 (Odd Rode branch)

Frank, my grandfather, was the second child of Harry Sproston, a miner from Butt Lane, and Elizabeth Wright, a miner's daughter from Kidsgrove. He was born in November 1895 at 88 Church St, Talk'o'th'hill (now Butt Lane). The terraced houses in Church Street were built specifically to house the miners who worked in the local pits, so may have been fairly new when Frank was born. Harry and Elizabeth had three children together, Agnes, Frank and Paulina, named for Frank's grandmother and also his aunt. In 1901 the family lived next door to Harry's mother, Paulina Archer and her second husband, David Lowe. Also living at number 86 Church St were Harry's bother James and his sister Paulina, plus David Lowe's two children, and a 3-year-old girl called Frances Sproston, whose parentage is uncertain (although it's likely she was the illegitimate daughter of Paulina junior and the lodger, Edward Wharton, as Paulina and Edward married later in 1901).
Further along Church St at number 125 lived another of Harry's brothers, Samuel, and just around the corner in Old Butt Lane lived Job Sproston, another of Harry's brothers. All the boys were miners, like their father Samuel Sproston (Paulina's first husband). Samuel had been killed during a cave-in at Slappenfield Colliery in October of 1879, when Paulina had been pregnant with their youngest child, Mary Hannah.
So when Frank was growing up he would have been surrounded by his aunts and uncles and grandparents; in fact his uncle Job was present at the death of his father, Harry, from a cerebral abcess in 1904, when Frank was just 9 years old.
It's not clear what happened to Elizabeth and the 3 children after Harry's death, but Frank often spoke about living on a farm where the farmer's wife made marmalade pies, and in fact he couldn't abide marmalade for the rest of his life.
Frank worked as a miner until World War 1, when he enlisted in the East Yorkshire Regiment and fought in France at Ypres and Paschendale. One of his friends, George Edwards, was killed in action, and it was at an army reunion that he met George's young widow, Bertha Degg, and her two children, Elsie and Florence. Frank and Bertha were married in Stoke-on-Trent sometime around 1828, and my father, Victor, was born in February 1929.
Frank worked for many years at Trentham Deep Pit, and my father would wait at the school gates at playtime so he could wave to his father as he cycled past on his way to work his shift. On one occasion, he was caught in a cave-in, like his grandfather; but was rather more fortunate and was rescued after being buried alive for some time. Frank never seemed interested in going to see his only son play football, but many times during a match or practice session my father would glance into the crowd and see him there.
Later on in life, Frank worked as a mining instructor, and then retired at the age of 65. However, sadly he didn't live to enjoy his retirement, or to see his grandaughter, as he died from lung cancer on New Year's Eve 1960, not long after retiring.
The photo below is of Frank and Bertha, probably in Blackpool (or similar) around 1928.

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Leonard Sproston born Fenton 1898

Leonard was the youngest son of John Stanier Sproston and Mary Jane Wilson, and a descendant of William Sproston and Maria Stanier, who gave her name to generations of Sprostons in this particular branch. Unlike his family, who were all potters, Leonard worked as a coal miner. He married Frances Stonier at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Normacot in 1929, and emigrated to America in September of the same year, Frances following him a month later. Both remained in the US, where they had three children, John Frederick, Janice and Betty. Frances died in 1960; Leonard survived her and died in December 1984.
The images below are the passport photos of Leonard and Frances, while the third photo is of their son, John Frederick.

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Thomas Broadhurst Sproston born 1864 Middlewich

Thomas was descended from the Middlewich Tanners, and before this, the Old Middlewich Branch. His father and grandfather operated the Tannery in Middlewich but Thomas was the first in his line to enter a 'profession'. He married Jane Baker in 1886 and they had nine children, not all of whom survived infancy. Their eldest son, Thomas Edge, was born in London Finsbury Park in 1888. Thomas practiced as a solicitor in Newcastle under Lyme, Stoke-on-Trent but he is buried in the family plot at Middlewich Cemetery, along with several of his children.

Thomas Broadhurst Sproston and his wife Jane Baker (courtesy of Rachel J)

Thomas and Jane's daughter, Mary Kathleen Sproston born 1898.

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