Author: Parkinson, Richard
Biography:
PARKINSON, Richard (1797-1858: ODNB)
He was born on 17 Sept. 1797 at Woodgates, Admarsh, near Lancaster, the son of John Parkinson, of Blindhurst, Lancashire, and his wife Margaret Blackburn, who had married in 1791. He was educated at Hawkshead and Sedbergh and St. John’s College Cambridge (matric. 1816, Scholar 1819, BA 1820, MA 1824, BD 1838). With Winthrop Mackworth Praed (q.v.) he won the Seatonian Prize in 1830 with The Ascent of Elijah. He was ordained deacon (1822) and priest (1823) and was appointed curate at St. Michael’s on the Wyre, Lancashire, in 1823. He was theological tutor at St. Bees College, Cumbria (1826-46), then Principal (1846-58), and acquired an array of clerical posts: canon of Manchester Cathedral 1830 and fellow of the Collegiate College (1833-46), perpetual curate of Whitworth, Lancashire (1830-41). He published sermons and moral tales; he was staunchly anti-Catholic. He had many outside intellectual interests, was elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (FSA) in 1847. He was one of the founders of the Chetham Society and oversaw several of its scholarly publications, including The Autobiography of Henry Newcome and The Private Journal and Literary Remains of John Byrom. He married Catherine Hartley (1802-60) on 18 July1831, at Egremont, Cumbria. They had five children. He died on 28 Jan. 1858 at St. Bees and was buried at the Priory of St. Mary and St. Bega, leaving an estate of £18,000. His wife Catherine survived only a further eighteen months and died in 1860. (ODNB 16 Dec. 2022; CCEd 16 Dec. 2022; ancestry.co.uk 16 Dec. 2022; findmypast.co.uk 16 Dec. 2022; Sedbergh Register; Westmorland Gazette 30 July 1831; Morning Post 1 Feb. 1858, Carlisle Journal 5 Feb. 1858; GM 1858, 1: 335, 556-8; Globe 8 June 1860) AA
Other Names:
- R. Parkinson