Family and Education

b. 24 Feb. 1755, 1st s. of Thomas, Visct. Parker.  educ. Exeter, Oxf. 1773.  m. 25 May 1780, Mary Frances, da. and coh. of Rev. Thomas Drake of Amersham, Bucks., 1s. d.v.p. 1da.  suc. fa. as 4th Earl of Macclesfield 9 Feb. 1795.

Offices Held

Ld. of the bedchamber to Prince of Wales 1780-9; P.C. 21 Apr. 1791; comptroller of the Household 1791-7; ld. of the bedchamber to the King 1797-1804; capt. of yeomen of the guard 1804-30.

Ld. lt. Oxon. 1817- d.

Biography

Lord Parker sat for New Woodstock on the Duke of Marlborough’s interest, and supported North’s Administration to the end. His only recorded speeches during his first term in Parliament were on 25 Nov. 1779 when he seconded the Address, and on 14 Feb. 1783 when he seconded Lord Maitland’s motion to confer a mark of favour on General Eliott. He voted for Shelburne’s peace preliminaries, 18 Feb. 1783, and did not vote on Fox’s East India bill.

In December 1783 John Robinson wrote about New Woodstock:

Probably the Duke of Marlborough will again return the same Members, and although Lord Parker’s inclinations, as Lord Macclesfield[’s], certainly are with Government, yet Lord Parker being in the Prince’s household can only be classed as doubtful.

In January 1784 Robinson classed Parker as Opposition, and in Stockdale’s list of 19 Mar. 1784 he is classed as absent. Marlborough had supported the Fox-North Coalition yet at the general election of 1784 did not return Parker.

He died 20 May 1842.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: John Brooke

Notes