Leslie William Spratt

Leslie William Spratt (1849-August 1925) was a businessman and local politician active in the West Ham area.

Born in Winchester, Hampshire, Spratt moved to London, initially living in Edgware Road. In 1871 he married in Alice Petrie in Bethnal Green. He moved to Forest Gate where he established a draper's shop at Woodgrange Road. This became the firm of L W Spratt & Sons. He was elected as a councillor representing Plaistow Ward on West Ham Borough Council in the 1890s. He rose to become an alderman and served as Mayor of West Ham on two occasions in 1901-02 and 1906-07.

When the Metropolitan Water Board was formed in 1903, Spratt was appointed to the new body by West Ham Corporation.

He retired to Westcliff-on-Sea on the Essex coast, where he died aged 76. He was buried at the City of London Cemetery.

He had two sons and one daughter. One of his sons, also named Leslie William Spratt, was born in 1908, and was a doctor in the Royal Army Medical Corps present at the liberation of the Belsen Concentration Camp.