James Parker of Sheffield

The father-in-law of Thomas Hammerton Barnes, James Parker, was perhaps very influential in helping launch the short-lived business of Barnes and Co. It would appear that Thomas married a woman, Elizabeth daughter of James Parker, who was extremely well connected and whose moderately wealthy family helped establish him as a pillar of society in late Victorian Sheffield.

The early years of James Parker, father of Elizabeth Parker, remain enigmatic. He was born in Bridgeton, Glasgow, Scotland on the 16th May 1813 and baptised a month later on the 13th June 1813 [1] .

James was the fourth child of John Parker and Jean Scott. John Parker was a ‘Weaver’ by trade and the family lived in the Barony parish which has now been subsumed within Glasgow. In the early nineteenth century, Barony would have been experiencing the start of a shift from it being a quiet rural parish to its quick development as an industrial area and the weaving trade [3] . . A possible connection with James Parker's later working life is that fire brick manufacturing became part of this industrial development.

It is not known exactly when this James Parker either moved from Glasgow or arrived in the Sheffield area. By 1841 James Parker had met Mary Howe of Hill Top Ecclesfield, whom he married on the 7th June 1841 [2] .  James was employed as a ‘Schoolmaster’ and gave his place of residence as Middleton, Lancashire. James and Mary spent the first night of their married life at the George and Dragon Inn in Ecclesfield, Sheffield, tenanted by landlord Matthew Stringer [4] . The 1841 Sheffield Census was taken on 6th and 7th June, and James and mary are recorded as unmarried individuals. Perhaps they had held their wedding reception at the George and Dragon Inn and were resting the night before moving to Middleton [5] .Alternatively, they may have eloped and spent the night together the eve before their wedding.

1841 a Marriage Year

At the time of his marriage, James identified his father as what looks like ‘John Parkin’, a ‘Grocer’, rather than ‘John Parker’. There is a John Parker, grocer, recorded in the 1837 Whites Directory at Brook Hill, Sheffield who may be the same man. In 1841, there is also a John Parker, aged 55, paper maker, who was residing in the household of a Thomas Hall, 23, paper maker, his wife Anne, 22, and their son Charles, aged one [19] . None of these inhabitants of Coppice Rivelin in Bradfield were born in Yorkshire. If either of these men can be identified with James Parkers father, then his family had been established in Sheffield before his marriage to Mary Howe. It may be that they moved in the same circles in Sheffield. When Mary Howe married James she was living at Hill Top, Ecclesfield her father being described as James Howe, a ‘Farmer’. Mary Howe was born in the Bradfield or Stannington district and christened on 7 December 1817, in Bradfield, the daughter of James Howe and Elizabeth Thompson [47] .

James was a school master and had certainly taught at Stannington National School from 1839-1841. There were two schools in Stannington in the mid-nineteenth century, an endowed school, Underbank Day School, established in 1652, and the new National School, built in 1830. Instruction was free in the new National School [12] . One of the reasons for the school being built was to prevent the spread of Unitarianism amongst the people of Stannington! It is probably this newer school where James taught. It was probably during this period that he had met and wooed Mary Howe.

On their marriage they moved to Middleton where James Parker would probably have taught at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Middleton in Lancashire. This school was originally founded by Thomas Langley as the Chantry school of Saint Cuthbert in 1412 and was located in the Chapel of Our Lady and Saint Cuthbert for the education of local children. The Grammar School buildings in which James Parker taught were probably those built in 1586 by Alexander Nowell, Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral London. This building had a schoolroom in the middle in one story, lighted by large five-light mullioned and transomed windows, and living rooms in two stories at either end. It is highly probable that James and his new wife Mary both lived in the living accommodation attached to the school [11] . This would certainly have been a step up from teaching in the National School, and the wages may have been more than ample to support a new wife. However, they had soon moved to Rhodes, Middleton where the first son, James Howe Parker, was born on the 13th April 1843 [6] .

James only stayed a couple of years in Middleton at the most before 1846, when James and Mary had moved from Middleton to Bradfield where their son John Howe Parker was born. It is highly possible that James continued to teach in Bradfield. He had his choice of schools, a Church School, or Bradfield College which was private and fee paying. It is highly likely that James taught at the church school. Two years later James and his family had moved to Heeley where their first daughter Isabella was born in 1848. Again there was a village school and James may have taught here as well.

Beginning the Business

By 1851, James and Mary and their three young children had moved to Sheffield [7] . At this time, they were living at 121 Devonshire Street, Sheffield. James, aged 37, and his wife Mary, aged 33, had their hands full with James, 7, John, 5, and Isabella, aged 3. Both James and John were scholars and would have attended the local school leaving Mary with Isabella. James Parker seemed to have decided on a change in career from school master to something a little more lucrative. In the 1851 census he is described as a 'School Master and Confectioner'. Obviously, teaching was not enough to pay the bills. It would appear that 121 Devonshire was a shop premises designed for confectionary as in 1857 a Mrs. Ann Pickering was recorded as a confectioner living at 121 Devonshire Street [46] . Perhaps James Parker and his family were living over the shop. It certainly shows that James had sufficient capital to invest in stock and pay the commercial rates he would be charged. It is conceivable that he had managed to save enough from teaching to invest in a business, or he had taken out small loans. Keeping his hand in teaching would bring in the cash needed to keep the family afloat whilst building the business.

Two years later in 1853 Isabella took ill. She died at five years of age on the 16th July 1853 and was buried at St Nicholas, Bradfield, with various other folk who are assumed to be her aunts and uncles, or other relatives, with the surnames ‘Howe’ and ‘’Thompson’ [8] . However, four years later, James Parker's second daughter Elizabeth was born and the birth registration was in Sheffield. She was born on the 7th January 1855 and she was destined to become the wife of Thomas Hammerton Barnes [9] . The family were still living at 121 Devonshire Street. By 1855, James Parker was described as a 'Bookkeeper' but two years earlier in 1853 he had established his company known as J. Parker and Sons [10] .

Business was obviously thriving as in1857, James Parker appears four times in the West Yorkshire Post Office Directory [37] . At 58, Division Street he is recorded as a 'cement dealer', and he had a 'pipe drain depot' at the Harts head, 3, East Parade. This depot was on the corner between East Parade and Fig Tree Lane. At 2, Back Fields, 11 Button Lane, he is simply a 'fire brick and cement dealer'. In the commercial section of the same directory his occupations are summed up as 'fire brick, drain pipe, plaster of Paris and Cement Dealer' with premises at 2, Back Fields, 58, Division Street, and Hart's Head. It would appear that the family had moved from Devonshire Street, although it is not at present certain at which of these three addresses was the family home.

In 1861, James Parker was 48 years of age and his occupation was described as a 'Drain Pipe Dealer'. He lived with his wife Mary and children at 67 Hermitage Street, Sheffield. Mary was then 44 years of age. They had three children living with them. By this time, James Howe Parker was 17 years of age and working as an Insurance Clerk in Sheffield. John Parker was 14 years of age and 'his father's assistant', working in the family business. Elizabeth was six years of age and identified as a 'Scholar'. Also present in the household at the time of the 1861 census was a Sarah Wray, a widow, of 48 years of age who was born in Kendal and who was working as an 'Upholsteress'. Sarah was identified as a 'sister' - presumably of either James Parker or his wife Mary (Howe) [36] .

James Howe Parker

The first son of John Parker, James Howe Parker, left the family home in Sheffield sometime after 1861. From his grave inscription, James had married Elizabeth Murray and they had at least two sons. They would have been married at an early age, around 1862, when James would have been only 18 or so. Elizabeth Murray was born in Sheffield on the 23rd June 1842, daughter of Robert Murray from Scotland whose occupation was ‘Spring Knife Manufacturer employing 7 men, 4 boys and 2 girls’. In 1861 this Murray family lived at 14 Duke Street, Sheffield and Elizabeth worked as a ‘Warehouse Girl’ [35] .

James Howe Parker had a tough time in the 1870s. His first son James died on the 28th May 1870, aged exactly seven; his second son Robert died on the 25th April 1874 less than two years old and then a year later on the 3rd April 1875, Elizabeth his wife died so in the space of five years, he seems to have buried his whole family. In 1871, a James S. Parker age 27 was living with his wife Elizabeth, also 27, at 165 Brook Hill, Sheffield. This could be a recording error for James H. Parker and if so, he was working as an ‘Insurance Clerk and Inspector’. There was also a Mary Wordsworth working for them as a Domestic Servant. In 1881, a James H. Parker aged 37 was living at 4, Crimicar Lane with his wife Margaret M. Parker age 26. This James H. Parker is the same age as the James S. Parker identified in 1871 and they were both born in the same place – Rhodes, or Middleton, in Lancashire. The occupation of this James H. Parker in 1881 was given as ‘Fire and Life Insurance Agent’ so all in all it seems highly likely that this is the same person. If so, James Howe Parker had remarried after the death of his first wife Elizabeth. In 1881, James H. Parker and his second wife Margaret Parker had three daughters. The first was Ann M. Parker aged 11 who was most likely a step-daughter to James and then Isabella H. Parker (presumably Isabella Howe Parker) age 3 and Mary A. Parker age 10 months who are most likely the children of James and Margaret. There was also a third daughter who was the informant on the death of James Howe Parker and she gave her name as ‘G. E. Parker’. The further Scottish connection is that Margaret M. Parker was born in Falkirk, Scotland. Maybe there was some ‘Tartan Mafia’ in Sheffield at this time.

In 1871, James Parker, senior,and his family lived at 164/166 Greaves Street, Sheffield. This was presumably a large house where two previously separate buildings had been joined together. James Parker was 57 years of age and was described as a 'Merchant Employing two men'. The elder son - James Howe Parker - would have been 27 and he was no longer living with this family unit. John Parker was still living with his parents and worked as a 'Salesman' – presumably with the family business of J. Parker and Sons. Elizabeth Parker was 16 and still a 'Scholar'. Also with the family at the time of the 1871 census was a 'Visitor' named Robert Craig, aged 18 and born in Scotland [13] . It seems highly likely that this is the same Robert Craig who was later to become involved with Thomas Hammerton Barnes in the business Barnes Craig and Co. One possibility is that Robert Craig was a relative of the Parker family, perhaps a nephew of James Parker, and he subsequently based himself in Sheffield.

John Howe Parker

At some point after 1871 and before 1881, James Parker's second son John H. Parker married and moved to 312 South Road, Sheffield with his wife Emma. John H. Parker was a 'Buildings Material Dealer' and it is assumed that he absorbed his father's business interests in 1883 when his father died [22] . In 1883, John H. Parker gave his address as Brookhouse Hill, Upper Hallam so the family appear to have moved house in the preceding two years. By 1881 [23] , John and Emma Parker had three children - John Alexander Parker aged 6, James Howe Parker [24] . aged 4 and Ellen Parker who was less than one year old. Another child, William Howe Parker, had died in infancy on the 24th November 1873 [25] . Dinah Wilson, a 'General Servant’ aged 16 was also in the house at the time of the 1881 census. Thus, the James Howe Parker born in 1876 (birth registered in 1877) was the son of John Parker (aka John Howe Parker) born in 1847, the nephew of James Howe Parker born in 1843, the grandson of James Parker born in 1813 and the great grandson of John Parker.

James Parker's Death

James Parker was inclined to or had to move house quite frequently because in 1881, he was living at 125 Upperthorpe Road, Sheffield. By then, he was 67 and his occupation was given as 'Fire Brick Manufacturer' but he was more usually known as a 'Building Material Merchant' [14] . This might establish a tenuous link with his origins in the Barony area of Lanarkshire. He lived with his wife Mary and his daughter Elizabeth who worked as a 'Stationer' [15] . Both his two sons - James and John - had left the family home and Elizabeth left home a year later in 1892 when she married Thomas Hammerton Barnes.

James Parker died on the 1st July 1883 when he was 70 years old, his occupation was given as 'Drainpipe Manufacturer'. He died of an enlarged prostate and of 'febris remittens' which is recurring fever and which is often associated with malaria. The death was witnessed by his son John and it should be noted that his name was given on this occasion as John H. Parker - presumably John Howe Parker [16] . This is the first known reference to the son John Parker having a second forename.

James Parker is buried with his wife Mary in the graveyard at St Nicholas Church, Bradfield [17] . On the death of James Parker, the business probably passed to his son, John H. Parker. Mary Parker died ten years later on the 12th September 1894 at 75 years of age [18] . She was living at 26 Greenhow Street at the time of her death. The cause of death was given simply as 'general decay'. The informant was her son John H Parker who gave his address as 38 Greenhow Street.

James did not live to see the marriage, by special licence, of his youngest daughter Elizabeth Parker to Thomas Hammerton Barnes on the 3rd June 1885 in Oxford Street Chapel, Sheffield - a 'United Methodist and Free Church'. [26] . However, his wife Mary would have been present, and his son John H. Parker and his son James Parker's second wife Maggie Parker were both witnesses. Elizabeth Parker and Thomas Hammerton Barnes were installed at 186, Slinn Street, Walkley, Sheffield where their first child was born on the 5 March 1886; just nine months after his parents were married [27] . By 1891, Elizabeth and Thomas Hammerton Barnes were installed in Rivelin House and the household [28] included Thomas Hammerton Barnes, 34, Steel Forging Manufacturer; Elizabeth Barnes, his wife, age 36; James Barnes, son, aged 5; Elizabeth Barnes, Thomas's mother, aged 52, a widow 'Living on own means' and Mary Parker his mother in law, aged 72, a widow 'Living on own means'. Also present in the household were Ellen Oliver, a 'General Servant', aged 17, and Anne Guest, a Servant, age 16, both born in Bradfield.

In 1891 James's second son John Howe Parker and his family were living at 53 Greenhow Street, Sheffield [29] . John H. Parker, aged 44, was a 'Building Material Merchant'. By 1891, his eldest son, John A. Parker, was working as a 'Clerk' and James Howe Parker was an 'Assistant'. Ellen was aged 12 and was identified as a 'Scholar' and a further daughter, Meriam (probably) had arrived and was 6 years of age in 1891, born in 1885, in Sheffield. The family had a servant aged 23. Of some interest in the wider scheme of things, there was also a ‘Visitor' in the household and this was Nathan Haigh aged 47 and born in Yorkshire. Nathan Haigh was described as a 'Minister (Primitive Methodist)'. Also of further interest, in 1891 a 'Howe' family was living at their previous address - 312 South Road, Sheffield - and this family is presumably connected with John Parker's mother - Mary Parker, maiden name 'Howe'. This 'Howe' family comprised Frederick Howe aged 46, a Cutlery Manager born in Dronfield, Derbyshire together with his wife Eliza and their six children.

Elizabeth Parker

James's daughter Elizabeth found the 1890s to be extremely traumatic, she lost her youngest child in 1891 and then her husband Thomas Hammerton Barnes on the 16th February 1892 [30] . Soon after, Elizabeth moved to 294 South Road Sheffield, very close to her brother John H. Parker who by then was living on Greenhow Street. After the sale of Rivelin House, Elizabeth’s mother Mary Parker also lived on Greenhow Street until her death in 1894. The local geography of this Walkley area of Sheffield is also worth comment. These lives unfolded within a narrow territory. Greenhow Street is adjacent to South Road where the John H. Parker family lived and so too are Carr Road and Slinn Street where Thomas Hammerton Barnes lived in the 1880s. John H. Parker's father James Parker lived at Greaves Street and then Upperthorpe Road which are fairly close to Walkley and Thomas Hammerton Barnes and Elizabeth Parker were married in 1885 at the Oxford Street Chapel which is not far from Upperthorpe Road. Elizabeth Barnes worked as a draper from 1896 and certainly up to 1907i [31] . She had moved from this location by 1919 [32] . She lived there with her son, James Parker Barnes who initially worked as a ‘Draper’s Assistant’, presumably in his mother’s shop [33] .

James Parker's eldest son, James Howe Parker, survived his father by nearly twenty years and died on the 9th November 1900, aged 57 [20] . At the time of his death his occupation was given as ‘Secretary for a Limited Company (Steel)’ and he was living at 222 Crookesmoor Road, Sheffield. The informant was one of his daughters; G. E. Parker, who was present at his death which was caused by internal bleeding and extreme fatigue. James Howe Parker is buried close to the graves of James and Mary Parker [21] . in the graveyard of St Nicholas. It might be noted that if James did marry twice then he is buried with his first wife, Elizabeth, and not with his second wife Margaret.

J. Parker and Sons

In 1901, James Parker's second son John H. Parker, by then 54 years of age, was living with his wife Emma, aged 53, at 38 Greenhow Street, Sheffield, [38] . John H. Parker, was still a 'Builders Merchant' and his daughter Ellen, 20, was a 'Dressmaker' and Miriam, 15, was a 'Milliner’. Another child had arrived, Henry aged 9 in 1901, born about 1892 in Sheffield. Intriguingly, Nathan Haigh, 57, the 'Primitive Methodist Minister' was still present in the house as a ‘Visitor'. It is possible that it was a coincidence that Nathan Haigh happened to be present as a visitor at the times of both the 1891 and 1901 censuses but it seems more likely that he was living with this family in some way and for a period of over 10 years. It also seems likely that there is some strong connection between the presence of this individual and the activities of John H. Parker's sister - Elizabeth Barnes - who was instrumental in the development of the Glen View Mission Chapel ten years earlier. There are a number of commemorative stones in the base of this chapel which are dedicated to various individuals including Mr John Parker (with the date 22nd August 1904), Mr H. B. Howe and Mrs J.S. Parker. The Parker family had some major involvement with this chapel [34] .

Around 1901 and for a few years afterwards, J. Parker and Sons were based at Silver Street Head and had branch depots on Infirmary Road, Corporation Street and at the Canal Wharf – all in Sheffield. To what extent they manufactured is unknown but as builders’ merchants, they specialised in the supply of drainage and sanitary fittings, stable and farm fittings and specific brands of cement. Amongst other clients, they supplied materials to Sheffield Corporation for the construction of ‘Workmen’s Dwellings’ [39] . By 1905, James Parkers grandson, James Howe Parker would have been 28 years of age and he was identified as a ‘’Builders’ Merchant’ based at 101 Bower Road, Crookes which is most likely the home address [40] . The firm of J. Parker and Sons was still in existence and the assumption is that it had then been passed through three generations – prior to 1883 from James Parker when he died to his son John Howe Parker and then to his grandson James Howe Parker at some point after 1901. However, it looks as though John Alexander Parker, the older brother of James Howe Parker, was also involved in the business. In 1911, John Alexander Parker age 37 was married to Ada. He was identified as a ‘Building material Merchant’ and they lived at 40 Greenhow Street. There were no children of their own in the household but a niece, Margaret Ada Horsfield age 6 was present together with a general domestic servant named Annie Spooner.

John H. Parker died at some point between 1901 and 1911. He would have been 64 had he been alive in 1911 when Emma Parker, aged 63, described herself as a 'Widow’ [41] . She provided no information on her occupation at this time but the assumption is that she was an annuitant. Both Ellen and Miriam had left home and only Henry Parker remained with his mother. Henry was 19 in 1911 and he was working as a 'Builders Merchant Clerk' – presumably with the family business of J. Parker and Sons. Mother and son were still living at 38 Greenhow Street together with Mary Womack aged 17 who was working as a 'General Domestic Servant’ and who was born in Sheffield [42] .

The Parker family probably moved to 101 Bower Road, Crookes after 1911 [43] and the family business survived until at least 1973 [44] when it was still based at 238 Infirmary Road but was also represented at 261/269 Ecclesall Road and appears to have had some continuing activity at Canal Wharf. The Silver Street base seems to have been abandoned at some point after 1963iii. [45] . James Parker, senior, would have been over joyed to know that his small business built on the back of confectionary and teaching, would last over one hundred years.