James Parkinson (baptised 28 February 1730,

St Mary's Church, Shrewsbury St Mary's Church is a redundant Anglican church in St Mary's Place, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Co ...

– 25 February 1813) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

land agent and the proprietor of the

Leverian Museum The Leverian collection was a natural history and ethnographic collection assembled by Ashton Lever. It was noted for the content it acquired from the voyages of Captain James Cook. For three decades it was displayed in London, being broken up ...

which he won in a lottery. He then moved the Leverian collection to a museum at the

Blackfriars Rotunda The Blackfriars Rotunda was a building in Southwark, near the southern end of Blackfriars Bridge across the River Thames in London, that existed from 1787 to 1958 in various forms. It initially housed the collection of the Leverian Museum after it ...

which was sometimes referred to as "Parkinson's Museum". He has sometimes been confused with the surgeon

James Parkinson James Parkinson (11 April 175521 December 1824) was an English surgeon, apothecary, geologist, palaeontologist and political activist. He is best known for his 1817 work ''An Essay on the Shaking Palsy'', in which he was the first to describe ...

Life

Parkinson was the son of James Parkinson and his wife, Jane Birch who had moved from Ireland to Shrewsbury in 1723. His first training was as a law stationer, but he then became a

land agent Land agent may be used in at least three different contexts. Traditionally, a land agent was a managerial employee who conducted the business affairs of a large estate (house), landed estate for a member of the landed gentry, supervising the farmi ...

and accountant. In 1769 he helped in the settlement of

Sir Thomas Robinson Thomas Robinson, 1st Baron Grantham, (c. 169530 September 1770), of Newby, Yorkshire, was a Kingdom of Great Britain, British diplomat and politician who sat in the British House of Commons, House of Commons between 1727 and 1761. Early l ...

's tangled estates at Rokeby, Yorkshire. This success made his reputation. He later became involved in the

Ranelagh Gardens Ranelagh Gardens (; alternative spellings include Ranelegh and Ranleigh, the latter reflecting the English pronunciation) were public pleasure gardens located in Chelsea, then just outside London, England, in the 18th century. History The Ran ...

. Parkinson's wife Sarah (married around 1775) had bought two tickets at a guinea each of the lottery for the disposal of the Holophusicon collection of Sir

Ashton Lever Sir Ashton Lever Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (5 March 1729 – 28 January 1788) was an England, English collector of natural objects, in particular the Leverian collection.Blackfriars Rotunda The Blackfriars Rotunda was a building in Southwark, near the southern end of Blackfriars Bridge across the River Thames in London, that existed from 1787 to 1958 in various forms. It initially housed the collection of the Leverian Museum after it ...

, which he specially designed with the help of his son, the architect

Joseph T. Parkinson Joseph T. Parkinson (1783 - May 1855, London) was an English architect. He was the son of land agent and museum proprietor James Parkinson. He was articled to William Pilkington. He was a member of James Burton's Loyal British Artificers, a volu ...

. He published various pamphlets and made The museum however did not pay for its maintenance and after twenty years, he put it up for auction in 1806, and the collection was dispersed. The auction took place over 65 days with 8000 lots and earned a total of £6600. Parkinson had two sons and a daughter. Of the sons, John (1775-1847) who had an interest in minerals became a diplomat, and was elected FRS in 1840 while Joseph (1782-1855) became an architect.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parkinson, James 1730 births 1813 deaths Businesspeople from Shrewsbury Directors of museums in the United Kingdom English accountants