Sparks, White and Co Ltd , wholesale druggists and distillers' chemists

The firm appears to have commenced in the late 18th or early 19th century, for there are references in a directory of 1811 to "Sparks and Sons, distillers, 134 St John Street", and in a directory of 1818 to "Sparkes and Evans, wholesale druggists, 14 St Peter's Hill". From 1823 to 1831 the firm is listed as "Thomas Sparks and Son, 134 St John St.", being described variously as "merchants" (1823-4), "druggists" (1826) and "distillers' chemists" (1831). From 1836 to 1858 the firm is listed as "Sparks and Company, distillers' chemists", at 134 St John Street, and from 1860 to 1948 as "Sparks, White and Company, distillers' chemists", or "wholesale druggists and distillers' chemists", at various addresses: 134 St John Street (1860-7), 62 St John Street (to 1909), and Albion Mills, East Tenter Street, E1 (1911-48). The firm became a limited liability company, Sparks, White and Company Limited, around 1907, and disappears from the directories after 1948, when it was acquired by another druggists, Brome and Schimmer.