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Nicholas Parker
Monument to Sir Nicholas Parker, Willingdon Church(2) Geograph-3182769-by-Julian-P-Guffogg.jpg
Monument to Sir Nicholas Parker, Willingdon Church
Member of Parliament
for Sussex
In office
1597–1598
Personal details
Born 1547
Ratton, Willingdon
Died 9 March 1620(1620-00-00) (aged 72–73)
Resting place St. Mary the Virgin, Willingdon
50°47′59″N 0°15′15″E / 50.799732°N 0.254083°E / 50.799732; 0.254083
Spouses
  • Jane Courtenay
  • Elizabeth Baker
  • Catherine Temple
Children with Catherine:
Parents
  • Thomas Parker
  • Eleanor Waller

Sir Nicholas Parker (1547 – 9 March 1620), eldest son of Thomas Parker of Ratton and Eleanor, daughter of William Waller of Groombridge, was a military commander during the reign of Elizabeth I. He was Sheriff of Sussex in 1586-87, again in 1593-94, and was elected MP for Sussex in 1597.

Blazon of Parker Baronets of Ratton (1674)
Arms of Parker of Ratton

Career

Parker is first mentioned as commanding the soldiers on board Henry Ughtred's galleon Leicester in Edward Fenton's voyage in 1582 and afterwards served in the army in the Low Countries. He was Sheriff of Sussex, in 1586-7 and 1593-4. He became deputy lieutenant of Sussex in 1587 and was knighted by Lord Willoughby in 1588.

Parker was master of the ordnance for Willoughby's forces In France in 1589, and was dispatched to Brittany in 1594. He was elected MP for Sussex in 1597. In 1597 he commanded a company of troops in the islands' voyage under Essex, and in October of that year was appointed to command in Sussex, on threat of invasion.

In 1598, he was appointed deputy lieutenant of Cornwall and governor of Pendennis Castle. In 1602, he was named in the charter of the Virginia Company as one of the adventurers, and another of them, Adrian Moore, married his daughter, Anne.

He was governor of Plymouth from 1601 to 1603, succeeding Sir Ferdinando Gorges.

Marriages and issue

Parker married three times.

By his first two marriages he had no issue.

  • He married thirdly, Catherine, daughter of Sir John Temple of Stowe, Buckinghamshire, by whom he had five sons and two daughters:

Death

St Mary the Virgin Church, Willingdon, East Sussex (IoE Code 295782)
Parish church of St Mary the Virgin, Willingdon, East Sussex

He died 9 March 1620 at the age of 73 and was buried in the family chapel in Willingdon church. Following his death, a monument was erected in the Willingdon parish church, showing an effigy of him and his three wives. It is one of a group of monuments to the Parker family spanning nearly 150 years.

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