Family and Education

b. c.1785, 1st s. of V.-Adm. Christopher Parker by Augusta Barbara Charlotte, da. of Adm. John Byron, 2nd s. of William, 4th Baron Byron. m. 11 Feb. 1809, Marianne, da. of Sir George Dallas, 1st Bt.*, 1s. suc. fa. 1804; gdfa. Adm. Sir Peter Parker^† as 2nd Bt. 21 Dec. 1811.

Offices Held

Entered RN 1793, midshipman 1799, lt. 1801, cdr. 1804, capt. 1805.

Biography

A fourth generation naval officer, Parker served chiefly with the Mediterranean fleet, but had to invalid out in 1809, having suffered from yellow fever after a voyage from Vera Cruz. In this interlude he was returned for Wexford as a substitute for the ailing Richard Nevill, his father’s first cousin, who engaged to return a friend of government. Taking his seat on 9 Mar. 1810, Parker at once spoke in favour of the subsidy to Portugal. On 30 Mar. he was in the government majority against the Scheldt inquiry, having said a few words against it the day before. On 10 Apr., with ‘great animation’, he denounced Sir Samuel Romilly’s advocacy of Burdett’s conduct and was rebuked for unparliamentary language. He duly voted against the release of the radical Gale Jones, 16 Apr., and on 8 May inveighed against the petition of the London livery in defence of Burdett. He supported a grant to the Duke of Brunswick, 4 May 1810, and decried reductions of the navy estimates on 11 May. On 1 June he started a rambling speech favourable to Catholic relief, based on his experience of Catholics in the service, which was shouted down. A month later he resumed convoy duties, and in June 1811 resigned his seat on being ordered to St. Helena. He was killed in action near Baltimore, 30 Aug. 1814.

Gent. Mag. (1814), ii. 378.

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: P. J. Jupp

Notes