THIS family was founded by Thomas Parker, an eminent Lawyer, who rose to the dignity of Lord High Chancellor, and Earl of Macclesfield. He was son of Thoman Parker, an Attorney, at Leake, in Staffordshire. a That this name was anciently wrote Le Parker, is evident from our records : William le Parker, in 1271, *had a grant of free warren in all his lands in Eccles, Lesingham, Hapesburg, Brumsted, and Shaleham, in the county of Norfolk. THOMAS Parker,† was seated at Bulwel, and a person of such ample posses. sions, that in the reign of Richard II. he had to wife Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Adam de Gotham, son of Thomas de Gotham, of Lees, son of Roger de Gotham, of Lees, near Norton, in the county of Derby, of which lordship he was also owner, and now retains the name of Norton Lees. He had by the same Elizabeth, three sons; Robert, who continued the line; Thomas, of Norton Lees, who had an only daughter, married to Thomas Moore, of Green Hill; and William, seated at Shirland, in Derbyshire. ROBERT Parker, his eldest son, was seated at Norton-Lees; and with his younger brother, William, was certified, in 12 Henry VI. among the gentlemen of the county of Derby, who then, pursuant to an act of parliament, made oath for the observance of the laws, for themselves and retainers. The said Robert having married Elizabeth, daughter and coheir of John Birley, of Barnes, had issue several children; of whom, the eldest son, JoHN Parker, of Norton-Lees, was at full age in 12 Henry VI. for he also, being then wrote of Norton, made oath with his father for the observation of the laws. The said John had to wife Ellen, daughter of Roger North, of Walkringham, in Nottinghamshire, ancestor to the present Earl of Guilford, by whom he had issue five sons, and four daughters; JOHN Parker, of Norton-Lees, the eldest son, married Cart. 56 Hen. III. p. 1. + Ex Stemmate, and Visitation of Derbyshire, 1611. Fuller's Worthies in com. Derbyshire. Ibid. He was born at Leake aforesaid, and applying himself to the study of the laws, grew so eminent in the profession, that he was appointed one of the Counsel to Queen Anne; and being called to the degree of Serjeant at law, June 8th, 1705, the motto of the rings delivered on that occasion to Queen Anne, and Prince George of Denmark, was Moribus, Armis, Legibus. He was the same day appointed the Queen's Serjeant, and had the honour of Knighthood conferred on him. He was member of Parliament for Derby from 1705 to 1708. On March 15th, 1709-10, he was constituted Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench; and on the demise of the Queen, was one of the Lords Justices, till the arrival of her successor from Hanover; who, on March 10th, 1715-16, created him a Baron of this kingdom, by the style and title of LORD PARKER, Baron of MACCLESFIELD, in the County of Chester. On May 12th, 1718, his Majesty was pleased to deliver the Elizabeth, daughter to Ralph Eyre, of Alfreton, and had issue three sons; John, Henry, and Anthony; and a daughter, Margaret. HENRY, the fourth son of John Parker, by Ellen North, was Groom of the Chamber to Henry VIII. but left no issue. William, the fifth, was Sewer to that King, and seated at Luton, in Bedfordshire; and married Margaret, daugh-,, ter to John Wroth, of Durance, in Enfield, in Middlesex, Esq. by whom he had an only daughter, Barbara, his heir, married to John Wickham, of Enfield, father by her of William Wickham. Which THOMAS Parker, second brother to the said Henry and William, had to wife daughter and heir of Parker, of his own family, by whom he had issue WILLIAM Parker, of Ashborn, in Derbyshire, who had three sons, George Par. ker, of Nether-Lees; Rowland, and Edward. GEORGE married Barbara, daughter of Burley, of Berkshire, and had issue WILLIAM Parker, of Parwich, in com. Derb. who died in 1631, aged seventy-eight, having wedded Elizabeth, daughter to Humphry Wilson, and had issue THOMAS Parker, of Leke, in Staffordshire, the father of the Chancellor. He had just been one of the managers of Sacheverell's Trial; and distinguished himself in a very particular manner in it. Holt, the Lord Chief Justice, died during the trial. He was very learned in the law; and had upon great occasions shewed an intrepid zeal in asserting its authority; for he ventured on the indignation of both Houses of Parliament by turns, when he thought the Law was with him. He was a man of good judgment, and great integrity; and set himself with great application to the functions of this important post. Immodiately on his death Parker was made Lord Chief Justice. This great promotion seemed an evident demonstration of the Queen's approving the prosecution; for none of the managers had treated Sacheverell so severely as he had done; yet secret whispers were pretty confidently set about, that though the Queen's affairs put her on acting the part of one that was pleased with this scene, yet she disliked it all, and would take the first occasion to shew it." Burnet's 0. T. II, 540, Great Seal to his Lordship, and to declare him CHANCELLOR OF GREAT BRITAIN; two days after which he was sworn at Kensington, the King present in Council, and took his place at the board accordingly; and was congratulated upon his promotion by the university of Cambridge. He was one of the Lords Justices whilst George I. was at Hanover, so appointed May 9th, 1719. On June 4th, that year, he was appointed Custos Rotulorum of the county of Warwick: also on October 19th following, Custos Rotulorum of the county of Worcester. On November 5th, 1721, 8 George I. he was advanced to the dignities of Viscount Parker, of Ewelme, in Oxfordshire, and EARL OF MACCLESFIELD, in the County of Chester, in tail-male, remainder to hold the dignities of Lady Parker, Baroness of Macclesfield, Viscountess Parker of Ewelme, and Countess of Macclesfield, to Elizabeth, his daughter, wife of William Heathcote, Esq. and to the heirs male of her body. In June 1725, his Lordship was impeached on charges of Corruption. He was tried at the Bar of the House, and unanimously pronounced Guilty, on May 26th; in consequence of which he was removed from his high office, and fined 30,0001.d "This every way distinguished character," says Noble, in his Continuation of Granger, was the son of Mr. Thomas Parker, an attorney, at Leake, in Staffordshire; in the chancel of which church I have read the inscription on his grave stone. He left his son about 1001, per ann. &c. He received the Great Seal, May 11th, 1703, which he held till January 4th, 1724-5, &c. It was an extraordinary event, that Lord Macclesfield, one of the great ornaments of the Peerage, who had so long presided at the administration of justice, should himself be arraigned as a Criminal; be convicted of mal-practices; and sentenced to pay a fine of 30,000l. as a punishment for his offence: that a second Lord Chancellor of England should be impeached by the Grand Inquest of the nation, for corruption of office; and be like his great predecessor, Lord St. Albans, found guilty of the charge. The prosecution was carried on with great virulence; and though rigid justice indeed demanded a severe sentence, yet party zeal, and personal animosity, were supposed to have had their weight in that which was passed upon him. The whole fine was exacted; and actually paid by his Lordship and his son, notwithstanding the favourable disposition that was shewn in a certain quarter, to Bill signat. 8 Geo. I. d. See Coote's Hist. of Engl. VIII. 265, &c. Telieve him in part by a considerable donation. It is certain there had been gross mismanagement in the offices of the Masters in Chancery, by which the suitors had been great sufferers; and it appeared that those places had been sometimes conferred upon persons who had evidently paid for them a valuable consideration. The public cry against corruption in high stations was loud and long; and it was not thought prudent to stay the proceedings against the supreme Judge in the kingdom. The statute on which the Chancellor was impeached had indeed grown into disuse, but it was still a law: a breach of it was proved, and the consequence was inevitable. Lord Macclesfield was a man of learning, and a patron of it. Bishop Pearce, of Rochester, among others, owed his first introduction to preferment to his Lordship's encouragement. He was also very eminent for his skill in his profession; but rather great than amiable in his general character. He was austere, and not deemed sufficiently attentive to the gentlemen of his court, to whom his manners are represented to have been harsh and ungracious, unlike the mild and complacent demeanour of his predecessor, Lord Cowper. His Lordship passed the remainder of his life in a learned retirement, much devoted to the studies of religion, of which he had always been a strict and uniform observer."e His Lordship married Janet, daughter and coheir of Charles Carrier, of Wirkwith, in the county of Derby, Esq. and by her (who died August 23d, 1733), had issue George the second Earl of Macclesfield, and the Lady Elizabeth before mentioned, married on April 7th, 1720, to William Heathcote, of Hursley, in the county of Southampton, Esq. afterwards created a Baronet : which Lady died at her house in St. James's-square, February 21st, 1747. His Lordship died at his son's house in Soho-square, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, on April 28th, 1732, and was buried at Shirburn, in Oxfordshire; esteemed for the social virtues of a husband, parent, and a master, by every one to whom he stood in those relations. GEORGE, his only son, SECOND EARL OF MACClesfield, was, in the lifetime of his father, constituted one of the Tellers of the Exchequer for life. His Lordship, 1720, set out on his travels, accompanied by Edward Wright, Esq. a gentleman of a refined and elegant taste, in all useful knowledge and polite literature; and after three years tour through France, Italy, &c. &c. returned to England. Mr. Wright published an account thereof in two volumes in quarto, illustrated with several prints from his own accurate drawings, as he had a masterly hand, both in designing and painting. His Lordship had a great share in framing and carrying on the act of parliament for altering the style and at the second reading thereof, made a speech in the house of Peers, which he was prevailed on to publish, by the pressing instance of a great many of the Lords who heard it. Several foreign Academies chose his Lordship one of their members. On November 30th, 1752, he was unanimously elected President of the Royal Society, on the resignation of the late valuable and learned Martin Folkes, Esq. and at the installation of John Earl of Westmoreland, as Chancellor of the university of Oxford, on July 3d, 1759, his Lordship received the honorary degree of Doctor of Law. At the funeral procession of Frederick Prince of Wales, on April 13th, 1751, his Lordship was one of the supporters of the pall. On September 18th, 1722, his Lordship married Mary, eldest of the two daughters and coheirs of Ralph Lane, Esq. an eminent Turkey merchant, lineally descended from William Lane, of Glendon, Esq. and of Anne his wife, daughter and heir to John Isham, of Pightesley, in com. Northamp. Esq. and was son of Richard Lane, Esq. son and heir of Robert Lane, Esq. who died before his father Sir William Lane, who was possessed of Horton, as well as Glendon, in com. Northamp. his father Sir Robert "Lane (son of Sir Ralph Lane), acquiring the seat and estate at Horton, from his mother, Maud, who was the eldest daughter and coheir of William Lord Parr, of Horton, December 23d, 25. Henry VII. and was second daughter of Sir William Parr, Knt. by Elizabeth his wife, daughter and heir of John Lord Roos, of Kirby-Kendal; whose grandson, William Parr, was Earl of Essex, and Marquis of Northampton. By his said Lady, his Lordship had issue two sons; Thomas third Earl of Macclesfield. And, 2. George-Lane Parker, born September 6th, 1724, taking to a military life, was made Captain of a Company in the first Regiment of Foot-guards, and on February 19th, 1762, allowed the rank of Colonel. On April 30th, 1770, was advanced to the rank of Major-General; and on August 29th, 1777, promoted to that of Lieutenant General. He was also Colonel of the 20th Regi 8 See Park's R. and N. A. IV. 272. |