street life of the town. In 1817 he began exhibiting in London at the British Institution, and shortly afterwards made the acquaintance of Thomas Miles Richardson [q. v.] Out of this intimacy sprang in 1822 ‘The Northumberland Institution for the Promotion of the Fine Arts,’ of which Richardson was treasurer and Parker secretary. He did not confine himself to portraits, but painted historical and marine subjects, and excelled in smugglers, whence the sobriquet ‘Smuggler Parker.’ His pictures were remarkable for their selling powers, a fact largely due to a fortunate choice of subjects. Two large pieces, ‘The Sandhill Wine Pant—coronation of George IV,’ and ‘Fancy Dress Ball in the Mansion House—coronation of William IV,’ were purchased by the corporation of Newcastle. The opening of the new markets at Newcastle in 1835, and the brave deed of Grace Darling in 1838, also formed the subjects of popular pictures by Parker. In 1835 Parker issued ‘Critiques on Paintings by H. P. Parker … together with a few slight Etchings showing the Compositions,’ &c., Newcastle. In 1840 he presented a representation of the rescue of John Wesley from the fire at Epworth in 1709 to the Wesleyan conference, to be placed in the Centenary Hall, London. Shortly afterwards he was appointed drawing-master at Wesley College, Sheffield, and left Newcastle for that town. On the death of his first wife in 1844 he settled in London, and, having remarried, survived his second wife, and died on 11 Nov. 1873. He had issue fourteen children, of whom at present only one daughter, Mrs. H. Perlee Livingstone, survives. Between 1817 and 1863 Parker exhibited eighty-six pictures in London, of which twenty-three were in the Royal Academy.
[Welford's Men of Mark 'twixt Tyne and Tweed, 1895, iii. 249; Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, 22 Aug. 1891 (with portrait), and 3–8 Nov. 1894; the Rev. James Everett's Memoirs; Graves's Dict. of Artists, p. 177; information kindly furnished by W. W. Tomlinson, esq.]
PARKER, Sir HENRY WATSON (1808–1881), premier of New South Wales, fourth son of Thomas Watson Parker of Lewisham, Kent, and Mary, daughter of John Cannell of Sevenoaks and Carrendon, Hadlow, in the same county, was born at Lewisham in 1808. It is believed that he was educated as a solicitor. He went out to New South Wales as private secretary to Governor Sir George Gipps in 1838, and when the governor left in July 1846 he decided to make his home in the colony. On 8 Dec. 1848 he was nominated to the legislative council, and on 17 May 1849 became chairman of committees. In 1856, when the constitution was reformed, he was elected to the legislative assembly for Paramatta. The new régime opened with a good deal of political unsettlement. Three ministries were formed between June and October. Parker was a candidate for the post of speaker, but was defeated by one vote, and in October he was called on to form the third administration under responsible government, becoming premier on 3 Oct. 1856. His advent to power was received with satisfaction, and he retained office till September 1857, when he was beaten on a question of electoral reform. His administration marked the beginning of politics proper and of progressive legislation in Australia (Parkes).
Parker was knighted in 1858, and soon afterwards returned to England, where he settled at Stawell House, Richmond, Surrey. In December 1868 he contested Greenwich unsuccessfully against Mr. Gladstone. He was a man of culture and refinement, quiet and unobtrusive, and political life was not much suited to his tastes. Though he took little further interest in the affairs of the colony, he was made K.C.M.G. in 1877. He was a commissioner for the exhibitions held at Sydney in 1880 and Melbourne in 1881. He died at Richmond on 2 Feb. 1881. Parkes names him as one of the best men who have taken part in the government of New South Wales.
Parker married, in 1843, Emmeline Emily, third daughter of John Macarthur of Camden Park, New South Wales, who survived him. He left no issue.
[Mennell's Dict. Austral. Biogr.; Colonial Office List, 1878; Parkes's Fifty Years of Australian History; official returns; private information.]
PARKER, Sir HYDE (1714–1782), vice-admiral, younger son of Hyde Parker, rector of Tredington in Worcestershire, was born at Tredington on 1 Feb., and baptised on 25 Feb. 1713–14 (information from the Rev. R. E. Williams, rector of Tredington). His grandfather, Sir Henry, nephew of Sir Hugh Parker, alderman of London, created a baronet in 1681, married Margaret, daughter of Alexander Hyde [q. v.], bishop of Salisbury, and first cousin of the first Earl of Clarendon. An elder brother, born in 1709, and also named Hyde, died in 1710. Parker would seem to have served several years in the merchant service before entering the navy at the comparatively ripe age of twenty-four. He then served in the Antelope as able seaman, in the Swift and Pearl, with Captain Matthew Michell [q. v.], and in the Centu-
