Family and Education

b. c.1619, 2nd but 1st surv. s. of Sir Thomas Parker^† of Ratton by Philadelphia, da. of Henry Lennard, 12th Lord Dacre. educ. St. Alban’s Hall, Oxf. matric. 1 Dec. 1637, aged 18; L. Inn 1638. m. by 1655 (with £4,000) Mary, da. of Richard Newdigate of Arbury, Warws., 2s. suc. fa. 1663.1

Offices Held

Commr. for militia, Suss. Mar. 1660, lt.-col. of militia ft. Apr. 1660; j.p. July 1660-d., commr. for oyer and terminer, Norfolk circuit July 1660, assessment, Suss. Aug. 1660-d., dep. lt. c. Aug. 1660-d., commr. for sewers, rapes of Lewes and Pevensey Sept. 1660, Wittersham marshes Dec. 1660.2

Biography

Parker’s ancestors can be traced back in Sussex to the 13th century, and from 1371 frequently provided representatives for the Cinque Ports and other Sussex constituencies. Parker’s father, whose residence lay six miles east of Seaford, was returned for the port when its representation was restored by the Long Parliament. He had Puritan leanings and took the parliamentary side in the Civil War. He did not sit after Pride’s Purge, but was returned for the county to the second Protectorate Parliament. Parker’s uncle, the well-known radical pamphleteer, went further and took service under the Commonwealth; but Parker himself came under suspicion as a Royalist, taking no part in politics until his election in 1659. He held no office until the return of the secluded Members, when he was named as a militia commissioner. No doubt he was a court supporter in the Convention, but he was not reported as speaking, and was named to only two unimportant committees. He did not serve again and died on 12 July 1673. He was buried at Willingdon.3

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: M. W. Helms / Basil Duke Henning

Notes

• 1. Vis. Suss. (Harl. Soc. liii), 22; Keeler, Long Parl., 297-8.
• 2. Parl. Intell. 23 Apr. 1660; C181/7/55.
• 3. W. K. Jordan, Men of Substance, 27-28; Thurloe, vii. 89; PCC 130 Pye.