PARKER, Sir Hyde (1785-1856), of 13 Park Lane, London and Melford Hall, Suffolk

Parker, a member of a distinguished naval family, had a perfunctory parliamentary career representing the western division of his native Suffolk. His grandfather was Vice-Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, 5^th bt. (1713-82/3) whose role in the capture of Manila from the Spanish in the Seven Years’ War had brought him widespread acclaim.1J. K. Laughton, ‘Parker, Sir Hyde, fifth baronet (1714-1782/3)’, rev. A. G. Jamieson, Oxf. DNB, www.oxforddnb.com. His uncle, Admiral Sir Hyde Parker II (1739-1807), had commanded the British fleet during the bombardment of Copenhagen in 1801, when his signal to discontinue the attack was famously ignored by Horatio Nelson.2C. Wilkinson, ‘Parker, Sir Hyde (1739-1807)’, Oxf. DNB. Parker’s father, Sir Harry, the 6^th baronet, had, in contrast, rejected a career on the high seas in favour of the life of a Suffolk landowner, and in 1786 had purchased Melford Hall and its estates. Following in his father’s footsteps, Parker chose the life of a country squire over the navy, unlike his cousin, Vice-Admiral Hyde Parker III (1784?-1854), with whom he has been confused.3M. Stenton’s Who’s who of British Members of Parliament: 1832-1885 (1976), incorrectly states that this member married Caroline, daughter of Sir Frederick Morton Eden, 2nd bt. It was Vice-Admiral Hyde Parker III whom she married: A. Lambert, ‘Parker, Hyde (1784?-1854)’, Oxf. DNB. On his elder brother’s death in April 1830 Parker succeeded to the baronetcy and its Suffolk estates.

At the 1832 general election Parker offered as a Reformer for the new constituency of Suffolk West, in which his estates lay. He was backed by the 4^th duke of Grafton, who held considerable estates in the area.4Bury and Norwich Post, 19 Dec. 1832. Parker presented himself as a champion of the agricultural interest, particularly the labourers, opposing any reduction in protection and calling for the repeal of the malt tax and a reform of tithe laws. He also supported the abolition of slavery, but ‘doubted whether sudden emancipation would answer the desired purpose’.5Ibid. He was elected in second place by a commanding majority.6Ibid., 26 Dec. 1832.

In the Commons, Parker was a committed defender of the agricultural interest. One of his first acts was to present a petition from Suffolk labourers calling for a repeal of the tax on carts, 18 Feb. 1833, and he was in minorities for Chandos’s motion for a committee on agricultural distress, 21 Feb. 1834, and for the repeal of the malt tax, 27 Feb. 1834. He opposed a fixed duty on corn, 7 Mar. 1834. He voted for currency reform, 24 Apr. 1833, and shorter parliaments, 15 May 1834, but against the secret ballot, 25 Apr. 1833, having previously described the measure as ‘un-English’.7Ibid., 19 Dec. 1832. On most major issues he followed Whig ministers into the division lobby, though his attendance was irregular.8R. Gooch, The book of the reformed Parliament: being a synopsis of the votes of the reformed House of Commons (1834), 22-3. Overall, he made little impact in the Commons. He is not known to have spoken in debate and his select committee service was scant.9Parker is known only to have sat on the 1833 select committee on the Newry borough election petition: PP 1833 (76), x. 573.

Parker’s lack of appetite for parliamentary life was confirmed when he retired at the 1835 general election. In his farewell address, he hoped that he had ‘acted up’ to the principles he had expressed on the hustings, though he declined to offer a reason for stepping down.10Bury and Norwich Post, 24 Dec. 1834, 7 Jan. 1835. Parker served as high sheriff of Suffolk in 1837 and thereafter devoted his energies to his Melford estates, which included sponsoring an annual ploughing match for local servants and boys.11Ibid., 30 Oct. 1839. In 1844 he spearheaded the Sudbury railway committee, which proposed a line from Chelmsford to Sudbury, with a branch line extending from Sudbury to Bury St. Edmunds, via Parker’s Melford estates, thus connecting Bury St. Edmunds with the Eastern Counties line to London.12Ibid., 2, 9 Oct. 1844; Essex Standard, 1 Nov. 1844. Acts of Parliament in 1846 and 1847 authorised the Colchester, Stour Valley, Sudbury and Halstead railway to construct such a line, but owing to protracted legal disputes the branch line from Melford to Bury St. Edmunds was not completed until 1865.13R. S. Joby, Forgotten railways: East Anglia (1977).

By the early 1850s Parker’s health was failing, and he spent an increasing amount of time abroad.14Bury and Norwich Post, 26 Mar. 1856. He died, unmarried and without issue, at Government House, Devonport, two days after arriving back from Lisbon, in March 1856.15Gent. Mag. (1856), i. 519. He was succeeded in the baronetcy and estates by Richard Parker, a colonel in the 1^st life guards, who was the eldest surviving son of Parker’s cousin, Vice-Admiral Hyde Parker III (1784?-1854) who had been appointed senior naval lord in Derby’s ministry in March 1852.16Ibid.