Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/378

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DICTIONARY OF AUSTRALASIAN BIOGRAPHY.
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a course in theology, was ordained a deacon in the Church of England, and became a lecturer in English literature in Trinity College, Toronto. In 1886 he went to Australia for his health, withdrew from connection with the ministry, and became one of the editors of the Sydney Morning Herald. Mr. Parker produced at Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney, in April 1888, an adaptation of Goethe's Faust, which had a long and successful run, and has been recently reproduced. This was followed by another drama in 1889, called The Vendetta, which was also successful. Mr. Parker, who is the author of books of short stories and poems, and a contributor to some of the best magazines, resides in London, and acts as one of the literary correspondents of the Sydney Morning Herald. In 1892 he published "Round the Compass in Australia" (Hutchinson, London).

Parker, Sir Henry Watson, K.C.M.G., sometime Premier of New South Wales, was the fourth son of Thomas Watson Parker, of Lewisham, Kent, England, and Mary his wife, daughter of John Carnell, of Sevenoaks and Carrendon, Hadlow, Kent. He was born at Lewisham in 1808 and was private secretary to Sir George Gipps, when Governor of New South Wales, from 1838 to 1846. In the latter year he was nominated to the Legislative Council of that colony, and was Chairman of Committees of the whole Council till 1855, when responsible government was conceded, and he sat for Parramatta in the first Legislative Assembly from 1856 to 1858. He was Premier and Colonial Secretary of the third administration formed in New South Wales in Oct. 1856, and held office till Sept. 1857. Having been knighted in 1858, he shortly afterwards returned to England, where he resided at Stawell House, Richmond, Surrey. Sir Henry, who was Crown trustee of the Australian Museum in Sydney from 1848 to 1856 and official trustee from 1856 to 1857, was created K.C.M.G. in 1877. He married in 1843 Emmeline Emily, third daughter of John Macarthur, of Camden Park, N.S.W., who survived him and died on May 3rd, 1888. Sir Henry died at Richmond on Feb. 2nd, 1881.

Parker, Stephen Henry, M.L.A., Q.C., son of Stephen Stanley Parker, held a seat from 1878 to 1890 in the old Legislative Council of Western Australia, and regarded as the leader of the elected members in the movement for obtaining responsible government. He came to England in 1890, with Sir Thos. Campbell, to assist the Home Government in carrying the new Constitution Bill through Parliament. He was eminently successful in his efforts, and gave important evidence before the select committee of the House of Commons presided over by Baron Henry de Worms, which resulted in the passing of the Bill freed from all restrictions as to the territorial control to be exercised by the colonial authorities under the new constitution. Mr. Parker, whose grandfather emigrated to Western Australia in 1829, was born at York, W.A., on Nov. 7th, 1846, was called to the Colonial Bar in 1868, was Mayor of Perth in 1880 and 1892, Q.C. in 1890, and M.L.A. for York in the latter year. He married at Perth, on July 27th, 1872, Amy Katherine, daughter of Hon. George Walpole Leake, M.L.C.

Parkes, Edmund Samuel, was primarily employed in the office of a leading firm of shipbrokers in London, and afterwards entered the service of the London and Westminster Bank. He subsequently became joint manager of the Alliance Bank in London, but resigned in 1867 to enter the service of the Bank of Australasia in Melbourne, sailing for Australia in August 1867. He was appointed Inspector in Nov. 1867, General Inspector in Oct. 1871, and succeeded Mr. D. C. Macarthur in 1876 as Superintendent, a position which he held down to the time of his death. On May 11th, 1887, Mr. Parkes was injured in a railway accident on the line between Prahran and Windsor, near Melbourne, and died the same day, after having had both his legs amputated.

Parkes, Hon. Sir Henry, G.C.M.G., ex-Premier of New South Wales, is the son of the late Thomas Parkes, a farmer on Lord Leigh's Warwickshire estate, and was born at Stoneleigh in that county on May 27th, 1815. He acquired some rudimentary education at a dame's school at Kenilworth, and at a hardly more ambitious academy at Gloucester. The fact that his school training ended at eleven years of age will sufficiently illustrate the process of self-education which the most literary of Australasian Premiers

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