John Humffreys Parry (24 January 1816 – 10 January 1880) was a British barrister, who became serjeant-at-law. John Humffreys Parry Vanity Fair 13 December 1873

John Humffreys Parry Vanity Fair 13 December 1873

Early life

The son of John Humffreys Parry the antiquarian (1786–1825), he was born in London on 24 January 1816. He received a commercial education at the Philological School, Marylebone, and spent a short time in a merchant's office in London; but then took a post in the printed-book department in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

. He attended lectures at the Aldersgate Institution and studied for the bar.

Legal career

Parry was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in June 1843 at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

. On the home circuit he built up a good criminal business, principally at the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

and the Middlesex sessions. Appointment as a serjeant-at-law, in June 1856, led him to success also in the civil courts. He was also largely employed in compensation cases, especially for the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway. Parry obtained a

patent of precedence A patent of precedence is a grant to an individual by letters patent of a higher social or professional position than the precedence to which his ordinary rank entitles him. Historical use in the English legal profession The principal instance in ...

in 1864 from Lord Westbury, and then led the home circuit. In November 1878 he was elected a bencher of the Middle Temple. His best-known cases were the trial of Manning in 1849; of Franz Müller, for the murder of Mr. Briggs, in October 1864; the Overend and Gurney prosecution in 1869; the indictment of Arthur Orton the Tichborne claimant, in 1873–4; and

Whistler v. Ruskin James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter in oils and watercolor, and printmaker, active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral a ...

in November 1878.

Political views

In politics Parry was a

Radical Radical (from Latin: ', root) may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Classical radicalism, the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and Latin America in the 19th century *Radical politics ...

—or advanced liberal—and at the time of the first

Chartist movement Chartism was a working-class movement for political reform in the United Kingdom that erupted from 1838 to 1857 and was strongest in 1839, 1842 and 1848. It took its name from the People's Charter of 1838 and was a national protest movement, wi ...

he sympathised with some of their moderate views, and knew many of their leaders:

William Lovett William Lovett (8 May 1800 – 8 August 1877) was a British activist and leader of the Chartist political movement. He was one of the leading London-based artisan radicals of his generation. Biography Early activism Born in the Cornish tow ...

mentioned assistance received from him. Parry was also one of the founders of the Complete Suffrage Association in 1842. In 1847 Parry unsuccessfully contested

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

against Lord Douro and

Sir Samuel Morton Peto Sir Samuel Morton Peto, 1st Baronet (4 August 1809 – 13 November 1889) was an English entrepreneur, civil engineer and railway developer, and, for more than 20 years, a Member of Parliament (MP). A partner in the firm of Grissell and Peto, h ...

. In 1857 he was beaten in

Finsbury Finsbury is a district of Central London, forming the southeastern part of the London Borough of Islington. It borders the City of London. The Manorialism, Manor of Finsbury is first recorded as ''Vinisbir'' (1231) and means "manor of a man c ...

by Tom Duncombe and William Cox, coming third at the poll despite heavy spending.

Death

Parry died on 10 January 1880 at his house in

Holland Park Holland Park is an area of Kensington, on the western edge of Central London, that lies within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and largely surrounds its namesake park, Holland Park. Colloquially referred to as 'Millionaire's Row', ...

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

. He was buried at

Brookwood Cemetery Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. The cemetery is listed a Grade I site in the Regist ...

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

on 15 January 1880.

Family

Parry was twice married: first, to Margaret New, who died on 13 September 1856; and afterwards to Elizabeth Mead, daughter of Edwin Abbott; she predeceased him by a few hours. He had two sons, of whom the elder, John Humffreys, an actor, died in 1891; the second was

Edward Abbott Parry Sir Edward Abbott Parry (2 October 1863 – 1 December 1943) was a British judge and dramatist. Parry was born in London into a prominent Welsh family, the second son of barrister John Humffreys Parry and grandson of antiquary John Humffreys Pa ...

, judge and man of letters.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Parry, John Humffreys 1816 births 1880 deaths Welsh barristers Serjeants-at-law (England) Members of the Middle Temple Burials at Brookwood Cemetery Lawyers from London 19th-century English lawyers