Montagu Edmund Parker Explained

Montagu Edmund Parker
Birth Name:	Montagu Edmund Parker
Birth Date:	ca. 1737
Death Date:	ca. 1813
Nationality:	English
Parents:	John Parker and Catherine Poulett
Spouse:	Charity Ourry
Relatives:	John Parker, 1st Baron Boringdon (brother) and Montagu and Francis (sons)

Montagu Edmund Parker (1737–1813)^{[1] [2]} of Whiteway House, near Chudleigh and of Blagdon in the parish of Paignton, both in Devon, was Sheriff of Devon in 1789. Portraits of him by Sir Joshua Reynolds (educated at Plympton Grammar School and a friend of the Parker family) and John Downman survive at Saltram House.^[3]

Origins

He was born in 1737, the 3rd son of John Parker (1703–1768)^[4] of Boringdon Hall, Plympton, of Saltram House, Plympton and of Court House North Molton, all in Devon, by his wife Catherine Poulett (1706-1758), whom he married in 1725, a daughter of John Poulett, 1st Earl Poulett^[5] by his wife Bridget Bertie, a granddaughter of Montagu Bertie, 2nd Earl of Lindsey. His elder brother was John Parker, 1st Baron Boringdon (1735-1788) of Saltram, whose son was John Parker, 1st Earl of Morley (1772-1840). The Parker family had risen to prominence in the mid-16th century as the bailiff of the manor of North Molton, Devon, under Baron Zouche of Haryngworth.^[6]

Career

He served as Sheriff of Devon in 1789.^[7] He inherited various of his father's secondary estates including Blagdon, Paignton^[8] and adjoining Collaton Kirkham (now Collaton St Mary), which his father had inherited from his younger brother Francis Parker of Blagdon.^[9] The public house in Collaton St Mary is called the "Parkers Arms" (sic) after his tenure.^[10]

Marriage and progeny

In 1772 he married Charity Ourry (1752–1786), daughter of Admiral Paul Henry Ourry (1719–1783),^[11] of Plympton House in the parish of Plympton St Maurice, Devon, MP for Plympton Erle 1763–1775 and Commissioner for Plymouth Dockyard. Paul Ourry was the second son of Louis Ourry, a Huguenot refugee from Blois in France who had obtained British citizenship in 1713 and a commission in the British army.^[12] Charity Ourry's mother was Charity Treby, daughter of George II Treby of Plympton House. By his wife he had two sons:

• Montagu Edmund Parker II (d.1831), who survived his father, having in 1806 married Harriet Newcombe, a daughter of John Newcombe of Starcross.^[13] He left progeny 2 sons and 1 daughter:
  • Montagu Edmund Newcombe Parker (1807-1858), eldest son and heir and heir to his grandfather, of Whiteway, MP for South Devon. He died without progeny and his monument survives in Exeter Cathedral.^[14]
  • John Parker (d.1847),^[15] 2nd son,^[16] who in 1841 married Lady Catherine Caroline Leslie, daughter of George Leslie and Henrietta Leslie, 14th Countess of Rothes. Lady Catherine died in 1844.^[17] Left one daughter, Louisa Harriet,^[18] who died in 1852^[19] at age 9.
  • Harriet Sophia Parker, who in 1842 married as her second husband Edmund Parker, 2nd Earl of Morley (1810–1864), her second cousin, and was the mother of Albert Parker, 3rd Earl of Morley.^[20]
• Francis Parker (b. 1782),^[21] likely died before 1823.^[22]

Death

He died in January 1813. There is a will listed for probate in 1814 in Chudleigh.^[23] His funeral appears to have taken place at St John's Church, Paignton, then the parish church of his secondary residence at Blagdon, as his funerary hatchment survives in that church, affixed high up on the south wall of the nave. It displays the arms of Parker (with a crescent for the difference of a second son) impaling Azure, a fox statant on grass proper in chief a sun in spendour or (Ourry, the last two words being canting). Above is the crest of Parker: A cubit arm erect vested azure cuffed argent the hand holding a stag's antler proper. Below is the Latin epitaph In Caelo Salus ("Salvation is in Heaven"). Below is a skull. The frame is decorated with skulls and crossbones.^[24] The public house in Collaton St Mary (next to Blagdon and also owned by Parker) is called the "Parkers Arms" (sic) after the tenure of the Parker family.^[25]

References

1. 1831 death per Vivian, p.588; (son died 1831; incorrectly attributed to father)
2. A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, Volume 2; Page 1233; Sir Bernard Burke; 1882
3. https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/montagu-edmund-parker-of-whiteway-17371813-101537
4. [John Lambrick Vivian|Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L.]
5. Vivian, p.588
6. The early genealogy of the Parker family as given in the heraldic visitations of Devon appears unreliable. A deed exists which records that in 1550 Edmund Parker, "gent" the son and heir apparent of John Parker of North Molton, Esquire, was granted by John la Zouche, 8th Baron Zouche (of Haryngworth), 9th Baron St Maur (c. 1486–1550), by deed of gift, the office of bailiff of the manor of North Molton and lands called "Legh" for the term of his life.(Plymouth & West Devon Record Office 69/M/2/93, dated 28 March 1550 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/A2A/records.aspx?cat=028-69_1&cid=-1#-1)
7. Risdon, list of Sheriffs, p.15
8. Risdon, p.378
9. Incorrectly stated in Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.378
10. 2017 pub sign displays wrong arms for Parker
11. Vivian, p.588
12. Web site: OURRY, Paul Henry (1719-83), of Plympton Erle, Devon | History of Parliament Online.
13. Vivian, p.588
14. Vivian, p.588
15. PARKER, John, age 35; GRO Reference: 1847 M Quarter in ST THOMAS UNION Volume 10 Page 197
16. Vivian, p.588
17. PARKER, Catherine Caroline, age 27, GRO Reference: 1844 M Quarter in ST THOMAS UNION Volume 10 Page 173
18. GRO Reference: Parker, Louisa Harriet; Mother: LADY C.C. LESLIE; 1842 M Quarter in NEWTON ABBOT Volume 10 Page 153
19. Parker, Louisa Harriet, age 9; GRO Reference: 1852 M Quarter in ST. THOMAS Volume 05B Page 61
20. Vivian, p.588
21. England, Devon Bishop's Transcripts, 1558-1887; 6 Dec 1782 in Chudleigh, Devon, England
22. Record for a Francis Parker, Bachelor; probate 1823; at Whiteway, Chudleigh Devon Wills Index, 1163-1999 Transcription
23. https://search.findmypast.com/record?id=GBOR/OR/DEVWILLS/135475 Devon Wills Index, 1163-1999 Transcription
24. Summers, Peter & Titterton, John, (eds.), Hatchments in Britain, Vol.7: Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Somerset; Phillimore Press, Chichester, Sussex, 1988, p.28
25. 2017 pub sign displays wrong arms for Parker