James Ranelagh Ponsonby Parsons (c. 1839 – 9 August 1905) was a

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

n educator. Parsons was born in Ireland, the son of Henry Parsons of

Trim, County Meath Trim () is a town in County Meath, Ireland. It is situated on the River Boyne and, as of the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, had a population of 9,563. The town is in a Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of the same name. The town ...

. In 1848 he accompanied his parents to Tasmania, where he spent his early years. In 1875, he moved to South Australia, where he held positions on the teaching staffs of Moonta school, and in Adelaide, St Peter's College, J. L. Young's

Adelaide Educational Institution Adelaide Educational Institution was a privately run non-sectarian academy for boys in Adelaide founded in 1852 by John Lorenzo Young.B. K. Hyams'Young, John Lorenzo (1826–1881)' ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 6, Melbourne Uni ...

(in Parkside), principal of

Adelaide High School Adelaide High School, originally named the Continuation School, is a state high school situated on the corner of West Terrace and Glover Avenue in the Adelaide Park Lands. Following the Advanced School for Girls, it was the second government ...

, in 1880 and from 1882,

Frederick Caterer Thomas Caterer (31 July 1825 – c. 4 January 1917) was a pioneer schoolteacher of Adelaide, South Australia who founded in 1862 a private school for boys which in 1866 became Norwood Grammar School. His brother, Frederick Isaac Caterer (c. 1840 ...

's Glenelg Grammar School. He then founded the Collegiate School in Broadstairs Street, also in Glenelg. He was an active churchman and for many years a

lay reader In Anglicanism, a licensed lay minister (LLM) or lay reader (in some jurisdictions simply reader) is a person authorised by a bishop to lead certain Church service, services of worship (or parts of the service), to preach and to carry out pastoral ...

, conducting services at St Jude's,

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

when it was without a permanent minister. His brother, Samuel Parsons, was incumbent of All Saints' and Canon of St David's, Hobart. Parsons married Sarah Cole Wells (died 1 October 1913). Their children include *Their eldest daughter, Emmeline Rutherford Parsons married Alfred Ernest Belcher in 1895. *Rachel Cole Ponsonby Parsons, died in 1939. *Henrietta Hannah Maude Parsons married Ellis *Sarah Louise Ponsonby Parsons (born 1876) *Cathleen Hilda Australie Ponsonby Parsons (born 1880) Parsons died at the age of 66 years at his residence in Glenelg, after a long illness, leaving a widow and a grown-up family.Obituary
''The Advertiser'' 10 August 1905 accessed 10 April 2011

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parsons, James R People educated at Adelaide Educational Institution Australian educators Australian educational theorists 1905 deaths Year of birth uncertain Anglican lay readers Australian Anglicans People from Trim, County Meath Irish emigrants to colonial Australia