Author: Parkerson, James
Biography:
PARKERSON, James (1767-1824: ancestry.co.uk)
He was baptised on 8 Nov. 1767 at St. Martin-at-Palace, Norwich, the second son of James Parkerson (1742-1833), baker, miller, and maltster, and his wife Frances Lawing (1742-1810), who had married at St. Mary Magdalene, Pulham, Norfolk, on 24 July 1764. Nothing is known of his education and he was apprenticed to his father in 1783. By 1789, the firm was trading as Parkerson & Son but the partnership was probably between James Parkerson, senior, and the eldest son, John Carter Parkerson (1766-1845). James Parkerson seems to have struck out on his own and become a shopkeeper in Great Yarmouth. He underwent bankruptcy proceedings in 1800 with debts continuing to plague him and he seems to have led an itinerant existence thereafter at Yarmouth, Long Stratton, Norwich, and Pulham Market. His father placed several adverts in the Norfolk Chronicle 1807-13 refusing responsibility for his son’s debts. He died at Lakenham, near Norwich, aged 56, on 3 Jan. 1824, and was buried at St. Martin-at-Palace, Norwich. He does not appear to have married. His verse records his experience as a merchant (“The Norwich Corn Mart,” “On Viewing the Cattle Market on the Castle Hill,” “Foreign Grain”) and his brushes with the law (“The Bankrupt,” “The Convict’s Farewell”). Copies of his works are in Norfolk and Norwich Millenium Library. (ancestry.co.uk 22 Apr. 2024; findmypast.co.uk 22 Apr. 2024; London Gazettevarious issues; Norfolk Chronicle 27 Jan. 1810, 20 Mar. 1813, 28 Dec. 1833; Ipswich Journal 10 Jan. 1824) AA
Other Names:
- J. Parkerson, Jr.