afforded of the existence of a north-west passage, the Admiralty soon made preparations for another; the command of which was again confided to Capt. Parry, who, on 30 Dec. 1820, received a commission for the Fury bomb, with which vessel and the Hecla, commanded by Capt. Geo. Fred. Lyon, he sailed from the Nore 8 May, 1821. After having passed two winters in the polar regions, the first to the northward of Southampton Island, and the second at Ingloolik, a small island in lat. 69° 21’, long. 81° 44’, the expedition, with its grand object still unattained, but with the acquisition of much important geographical knowledge,[1] returned to Deptford, where the two vesselswere paid off 14 Nov. 1823. On 1 of the following month Capt. Parry (whose valuable services had been rewarded with a Post-commission bearing date 8 Nov. 1821) was appointed Acting-Hydrographer to the Admiralty; and, on 26 he was presented with the freedom of the city of Winchester. Being selected, 17 Jan. 1824, to take charge of a fresh expedition to the frigid zone, Capt. Parry, on 8 of the following May again sailed from Deptford, with the same ships as on the last occasion – the Hecla, however, being commanded by himself, and the Fury by Capt. Henry Parkyns Hoppner. The following winter was spent at Port Bowen, in Prince Regent’s Inlet, where the two vessels remained, from 23 Sept. 1824 until 20 July, 1825. The Fury being shortly afterwards wrecked in lat. 72° 42' 30", long. 91° 50' 5", the Hecla was unfortunately reduced to the necessity of forthwith returning, with a double ship’s company, to England. She arrived, accordingly, in the middle of Oct. On 22 Nov. in the same year, Capt. Parry (to whom the freedom of the borough of Lynn was voted a month afterwards in testimony of the high sense entertained by the corporation of his meritorious and enterprising conduct) was formally appointed Hydrographer to the Admiralty, which office he continued to hold until 10 Nov. 1826. At the end of that period, having proposed and obtained sanction for a plan of reaching the North Pole, from the northern shores of Spitzbergen, by travelling with sledge-boats over the ice, or through any spaces of open water that might occur, he was again appointed to the Hecla. Sailing from Deptford 25 March, 1827, he left the Hecla in Treurenburg Bay, lat. 79° 55' 20", long. 16° 48' 45" E., 21 June following, and then took to his sledge-boats, with which he contrived, by 23 July, to reach a little beyond 82° 45', a latitude more northern than had been ever yet attained. He then retraced his steps to the Hecla, which he brought home and paid off at Deptford 1 Nov. 1827.[2] On the following day he resumed his duties as Hydrographer to the Admiralty, where he remained until 13 May, 1829 – a fortnight prior to which period he had received the honour of Knighthood.[3] He was subsequently employed – from 1829 until 1834 as Commissioner to the Australian Company in New South Wales – from 7 March, 1835, until 3 Feb. 1836, as Assistant Poor-Law Commissioner in co. Norfolk – and, from 19 April, 1837, until Dec. 1846, as Comptroller of the Steam Department of the Navy. He has filled, since the latter date, the post of Captain-Superintendent of the Royal Hospital at Haslar.
Sir W. E. Parry (who is an LL.D. of Oxford, an F.R.S. of Lond. and Edin., and a Member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg) is the author of a small work entitled ‘Thoughts on the Parental Character of God.’ He married, first, 23 Oct. 1826, Isabella Louisa, fourth daughter of Lord Stanley; of Alderley, by whom, who died 13 May, 1839, he had issue two sons and two daughters, now living. He married, a second time, 29 June, 1841, Catherine Edwards, daughter of the Rev. Robt. Hankinson, of Walpole, co. Norfolk, and relict of Sam. Hoare, jun., Esq., of Hampstead. By that lady he has had issue two daughters.
PARSON. (Captain, 1837. f-p., 19; h-p., 28.)
John Parson died 29 Nov. 1847, at St. Helier’s, Jersey, aged 62.
This officer entered the Navy, in the spring of 1800, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Leviathan 74, Capt. Jas. Carpenter, bearing the flag in the West Indies of Sir John Thos. Duckworth; with whom he continued employed as Midshipman in the Hercule 74, until Feb. 1805. He was in consequence present in the latter ship at the unsuccessful attack upon Curaçoa in 1804, and in various other operations. After sharing, we believe, as Master’s Mate of the Acasta 40, Capt. Rich. Dalling Dunn, in the battle fought off Cape St. Domingo, and serving for a short time as a Supernumerary on board the Dolphin, bearing the flag of Hon. Sir Alex. Cochrane, he was constituted, 6 May, 1806, Sub-Lieutenant of the Pert sloop, Capt. Jas. Pringle. He was nominated Acting-Lieutenant, 20 Jan. 1807, of the St. Christopher, Capts. Andrew Hodge and John Tancock; was confirmed, 1 Nov. following, into the Alexandria 32, Capt. Nathaniel Day Cochrane; and was subsequently (after cruizing for two years in the North Sea) appointed – 29 Jan. and 4 May, 1810, to the San Josef and Hibernia, of 110 guns each, Capts. R. D. Dunn and John Nash, stationed off Gibraltar and Cadiz – 8 Nov. following, to the Armide 38, Capts. R. D. Dunn, Fras. Temple, and Sir Edw. Thos. Troubridge, employed, until May, 1815, in the Channel and off the coast of North America – and, in July, 1816, to the Granicus 36, Capt. Wm. Furlong Wise, under whom he fought as First-Lieutenant at the battle of Algiers. For his conduct on that occasion he was advanced to the rank of Commander by commission bearing date 16 Sept. 1816. He subsequently, from 14 Oct. 1833 until advanced to Post-rank 10 Jan. 1837, officiated as Second-Captain of the Thunderer 84, Capt. W. F. Wise, on the Mediterranean station. He did not again go afloat. Capt. Parson was married and has left issue.
PARSONS. (Lieut., 1802. f-p., 19; h-p., 33.)
George Samuel Parsons entered the Navy, in July, 1795, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Barfleur 98, Capt. Jas. Rich. Dacres, under whom he fought as Midshipman in the action off Cape St. Vincent, 14 Feb. 1797. Removing, in April, 1798, to the Foudroyant 80, he acted as Signal-Midshipman of that ship under Lord Nelson at the capture, 18 Feb. 1800, of Le Généreux 74 and Ville de Marseilles armed store-ship, and, on 31 March following, after a desperate action, in which the Foudroyant (in company at the time with the Lion 64 and Penelope 36) sustained a loss of 8 men killed and 64 wounded, of Le Guillaume Tell, of 84 guns and 1000 men, flagship of Rear-Admiral Decrès. After officiating in a like capacity under Lord Keith during the expedition to Egypt, where he was intrusted with the command of a gun-boat on Lake Mareotis, he was nominated, 6 Aug. 1801, Acting-Lieutenant of El Carmen, Capt. Wm. Selby; in which ship, the bearer of Sir Wm. Sidney Smith, he returned, towards the close of the same year, to England. For his services in Egypt Mr. Parsons was presented with a gold medal by the Turkish government. He was confirmed a Lieutenant, 25 March, 1802, into the Batavier, Capt. Wm. Robt. Broughton, but continued only a few weeks in that ship, and was subsequently appointed – 9 Sept. 1803, to the Ganges 74, Capt. Thos. Fras. Fremantle, employed off the coasts of Ireland and Spain – 3 Feb. and 1 April, 1805, as First, to the Racoon and Elk sloops, Capts. Jas. Alex. Gordon, Rundel M‘Donnel, and Jas. Rich. Dacres, both in the West Indies – 8 Feb. 1806, for passage home, to the Malabar 74, Capt. Geo. Scott – 13 Sept. following, to the Texel 64, flag-ship of Vice-Admiral Jas. Vashon at Leith – 27 Feb. 1807, to the Orion 74, Capt. Sir Archibald Dickson, part of the force employed in the attack upon Copenhagen – and, 14 May, 1809 (after five months of half-pay, caused by indisposition), as Senior, to the Valiant 74, Capts. Thos. Geo. Shortland, John
