Sparks & Son was founded in 1888. However it is possible that Mr Sparks traded under his sole name for a few years before that date as the West Sussex Records Office holds documents about the firm dated 1883 to 1894 (yet it may also be that an '8' was mistaken for a '3'). Sparks & Son seems to have been doing well enough. Many surveys and inventories of properties in and around Arundel bear their names. They also conducted several auctions at Arundel Castle for the Duke of Norfolk. At some point Mr Sparks or possibly his son entered into a partnership with Edward Gill. This lasted until 1930. Indeed, a notice published in The London Gazette dated August 8, 1930 informs us that:
[...] the Partnership hitherto subsisting between Frederick Arthur Sparks and Edward Gill, trading in the name of SPARKS & SON, of Tarrant-street, Arundel, in the county of Sussex, Auctioneers, Estate Agents and Furniture Dealers, has been dissolved as from the 5th day of July 1930. All debts due from the firm being paid by the said Edward Gill, who will continue to carry on the said business of Auctioneer, Estate Agent and Furniture Dealer, at Tarrant-street, Arundel aforesaid under the style of Sparks & Son.