Edward Abbott Parry Explained

Sir Edward Abbott Parry (2 October 1863 – 1 December 1943) was a British judge and dramatist.^[1]

Parry was born in London into a prominent Welsh family, the second son of barrister John Humffreys Parry^{[2] [3]} and grandson of antiquary John Humffreys Parry, a leader of the Welsh literature movement in the early 19th century. His great-uncle Thomas Parry was bishop of Barbados and his great-grandfather Edward Parry was Rector of Llanferres, Denbighshire.^[1]

Parry himself studied at the Middle Temple and was called to the Bar in 1885. He was Judge of Manchester County Court 1894-1911^[4] and became Judge of Lambeth County Court in 1911. He wrote several histories, plays and books for children.^[5] He was appointed to sit on a Pensions Appeal Tribunal in the summer of 1917, which dealt with appeals against governmental decisions on military pensions, and later published a book on War Pensions: Past and Present, co-authored with Sir Alfred Codrington, another member of the Tribunal.^[6]

He died in Sevenoaks, Kent, aged 80.^[1]

Parry's autobiography, My Own Way, as published in 1932.^[7] To cite one anecdote, he took a summer holiday, probably in 1895 or 1896, in the tiny village of Rhoscolyn on Anglesey and became a great friend of the Revd. John Hopkins, the Rector. When Hopkins died in 1901, Parry was instrumental (with others) in erecting a fine copper memorial tablet in the church. He also published an appreciation in the Cornhill Magazine.^[8] There was mutual empathy and warmth of the friendship between two men of very different backgrounds: the London-educated judge, son of a barrister and the iron miner (before his ordination) and son of a Merthyr publican,^[9] fined for selling beer during the time of divine service.^[10]

Works

• 1888: (ed.) The Love Letters of Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple, 1652-54. London: Griffith, Farran, Okeden & Welsh
• 1895: Katawampus, its Treatment and Cure. London: David Nutt (many later editions)
  • Katawampus, its treatment and cure, and the First Book of Krab. Illustrated by Archie Macgregor, coloured by Cynthia Moon. Manchester: Sherratt & Hughes, 1921
• 1897: The First Book of Krab: Christmas stories for young and old; with illustrations by Archie MacGregor. London: David Nutt
• 1900: Don Quixote of the Mancha. Re-told by Judge Parry. Illustrated by Walter Crane. London: David Nutt
• 1914: The Law and The Poor. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
• 1922: What the Judge Thought. London: T. Fisher Unwin
• 1923: The Seven Lamps of Advocacy. London: T. Fisher Unwin
• 1925: The Overbury Mystery. London: T. Fisher Unwin
• 1929: The Drama of The Law. London: Ernest Benn
• 1929: The Bloody Assize. London: Ernest Benn
• 1930: Queen Caroline. London: Ernest Benn
• 1931: The Persecution of Mary Stewart [Mary, Queen of Scots]. London: Cassell
• 1932: My Own Way. London, Ernest Benn

References

• The seven lamps of advocacy. Published 1968 by Books for Libraries Press in Freeport, N.Y .

Notes and References

1. News: Obituary: Edward Parry – Judge and Author. . 3 December 1943. 7 .
2. Parry, Edward Abbott. 353.
3. Web site: Abbott - North Wales Genealogy Extracts . 2011-03-21 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20101223203505/http://recyclegen.com/archives/montg_coll/abc/abbott.htm . 2010-12-23 .
4. Resident of Burlington Road, Withington--Lejeune, C. A. (1964) Thank You for Having Me. London: Hutchinson; p. 36
5. The Green Room Book, and Who's Who on the Stage. 1907
6. Web site: War pensions, past and present. Edward Abbott. Parry. Alfred Edward. Codrington. 1918 . London, Nisbet. Internet Archive.
7. Book: Parry, Edward. My Own Way, An Autobiography. Cassell. 1932.
8. Parry. Edward. 1905. A Welsh Rector of the Last Century. The Cornhill Magazine. XVIII. 32–43.
9. Book: Census of England and Wales. 1851.
10. 24 December 1841. The Welshman.