proved his style, and two years afterwards succeeded Fischer as concerto-player at Vauxhall (cf. A B C Dario). In 1771 he accepted an advantageous offer from Garrick, always a good friend, to become first oboe at Drury Lane Theatre. This did not preclude his engagement by Smith and Stanley as a principal at the Lenten oratorios, and in the summer at Ranelagh and Vauxhall Gardens.
The Duke of Cumberland took Parke (1783) into his band, led by Baumgarten, and the Prince of Wales employed him at the Carlton House concerts, with a salary of 100l. He was a prominent performer at the Antient, the professional, and other concerts. In 1815, at the age of seventy, he retired; and he died in London on 2 Aug. 1829. He composed some oboe concertos, but did not publish them. Henry Parke [q. v.], the architect, was his son.
His eldest daughter, Maria Hester Parke, afterwards Beardmore (1775–1822), vocalist, pianist, and composer, born in 1775, was trained by her father. On 11 Feb. 1785 she first appeared as pianist at an oratorio concert. It was then the custom to interpolate solos and concertos between the parts of an oratorio. Miss Parke's concerto, in the middle of the ‘Messiah,’ displayed ‘neat and brilliant execution, together with great taste and expression. She was loudly applauded.’ In 1790 she came out at the Three Choirs festival as second singer, and in 1794–7, and 1807, as principal soprano. Thenceforward she was heard at many London concerts, oratorios, and provincial festivals. She was a good musician, scientific and accurate in her singing; but she retired from her profession on her marriage with John Beardmore of Queen Street, Mayfair, in 1815. She died in July 1822, aged 47.
Miss Parke published: 1. ‘Three Grand Sonatas for the Pianoforte,’ 1795 (?) 2. ‘Two grand Sonatas … with an Accompaniment for the Violin.’ 3. ‘A Set of Glees (Six, including the Dirge in Cymbeline),’ 1800? 4. ‘Two Sonatas for Pianoforte or Harpsichord.’
[Dictionary of Musicians, ii. 262; Georgian Era, iv. 319, 346; Grove's Dictionary, ii. 650; Bunce's Birmingham Musical Festivals, p. 64; Public Advertiser, 1 and 16 Oct. 1787, 13 April 1784; Annals of the Three Choirs, passim; Mrs. Papendieck's Journal, i. 94, ii. 295; Gent. Mag. 1815, i. 80; Annual Register, 1822, p. 288; Musical Memoirs, passim; Miss Parke's compositions.]
PARKE, ROBERT (fl. 1588), translator, was author of ‘The Historie of the Great and Mightie Kingdome of China, and the situation thereof: together with the great riches, huge citties, politike governement, and rare inventions in the same. Translated out of Spanish by R. Parke. London. Printed by J. Wolfe for Edward White,’ 1588, 4to. This is a translation of the Chinese ‘History of Gonzales de Mendoza,’ published at Rome in 1585. The dedication to ‘M. Thomas Candish [Cavendish], Esquire,’ is dated 1 Jan. 1589, and states that the translation has been undertaken ‘at the earnest request and encouragement of my worshipfull friend, Master Richard Hakluit, late of Oxforde;’ it further presses Cavendish, who has just returned from his first voyage to the Philippines and China, to attempt to reach the China seas by a north-west passage. Parke's translation was edited for the Hakluyt Society by Sir George T. Staunton, with an introduction by R. H. Major, in 2 vols. 8vo, in 1853; but no details of Parke's life have been discovered.
[Brit. Mus. Libr. Cat.]
PARKE, ROBERT (1600–1668), vicar and lecturer in Bolton, Lancashire, was born in 1600 in Bolton and educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He was appointed vicar of Bolton on 16 Dec. 1625. Owing to the troubles of the period he resigned the vicarage and fled in 1630 to Holland, where he acted as assistant to Mr. Symmonds in the English congregation at Rotterdam. In 1644, on the death of William Gregg, who had become vicar of Bolton on Parke's resignation, Richard Heywood of Little Lever, father of the two eminent nonconformist divines, Oliver and Nathaniel Heywood [q. v.], was sent to Holland to solicit Parke's return. He complied, but found on his arrival in Bolton that Richard Goodwin had been appointed vicar. Parke, however, became lecturer, and continued in this position till 1662, when he was ejected for his refusal to conform. He and Goodwin, the vicar, who also was ejected, held meetings in Bolton until 1665, when the passing of the Five Mile Act necessitated their removal. Parke retired to Broughton, but on the declaration of indulgence he returned to Bolton, where he conducted religious services till his death. He was buried inside the parish church at Bolton on 25 Dec. 1668. Oliver Heywood preached his funeral sermon at Bradshaw. He was a man of piety and learning and of considerable humour, and was greatly beloved by his people. He had a large library, which at his death was sold for the support of his wife and children.
[Palmer's Nonconformist's Memorial, ii. 355; Bolton Historical Gleanings, 1883; Heywood's Diary; Scholes's History of Bolton.]
