Ian Parry (12 April 1965 – 28 December 1989) was a British photographer and photojournalist who worked as a freelance and on assignment for newspapers including ''

The Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK and was launched in 1982 by Lord Rothermere. Its sister paper, the '' Daily Mail'', was first pu ...

'', ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' and ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

''. He was killed at the age of 24 in an aircraft crash in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

during the overthrow of Communism. In his honour a scholarship fund was set up to encourage and help young photographers.

Early life

Parry was the youngest of four children, and was born and brought up in

Prestatyn Prestatyn is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. Historically a part of Flintshire, it is located on the Irish Sea coast, to the east of Rhyl. Prestatyn has a population of 19,085, History Prehistory There is evidence that the ...

in north

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. He attended Penmorfa County Primary and Prestatyn High Schools, and his interest in photography began while he was very young: by the age of 13 he had learned to develop and print his own film using a darkroom set up by his uncle. He took photographs of people staying at the nearby

Pontin's Pontins is a British company operating holiday parks in the UK, founded in 1946 by Fred Pontin. Since 2011, it has been owned by Britannia Hotels. Pontins specialises in offering half-board and self-catering holidays featuring entertainment ...

holiday camp during the summer holidays while still at school. Parry left school at the age of 16 and was taken on by the local newspaper ''Rhyl Journal'' as a trainee photographer; the editor Brian Barratt later praised his "nose for a good news picture".Margarette Driscoll, "Newsman's memorial: his pictures", ''Sunday Times'', 31 December 1989.

Professional life

After studying at the

National Council for the Training of Journalists The National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) was founded in 1951 as organisation to oversee the training of journalists for the newspaper industry in the United Kingdom and is now playing a role in the wider media. It is a self-ap ...

Sheffield College The Sheffield College is a large general further education college in Sheffield, England. The college has six campuses across the city and has 13,500 students enrolled (including 2,501 apprentices) as of 2021. It provides academic, technical an ...

, at the age of 21 Parry joined the national newspaper ''Mail on Sunday''. He later worked for both ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times''."Mr Ian Parry: Memorial service", ''The Times'', 31 January 1990. He worked with the Chief Reporter of ''Mail on Sunday'', Barbara Jones, on a front-page story about the personal life of Sonia Sutcliffe (wife of murderer

Peter Sutcliffe Peter William Sutcliffe (2 June 1946 – 13 November 2020) was an English serial killer who was dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper (an allusion to Jack the Ripper) by the press. Sutcliffe was convicted of murdering 13 women and attempting t ...

). During the 1989 Conservative leadership election, Parry followed the challenger

Sir Anthony Meyer Sir Anthony John Charles Meyer, 3rd Baronet (27 October 1920 – 24 December 2004) was a British soldier, diplomat, and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative and later Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrat politician, best known for standing ...

(his local MP) throughout his challenge, photographing him throughout each day; Meyer was impressed with Parry's ability to get access to events and regarded him as "a constant and welcome companion".

Death

When an uprising against the government of

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He was ...

broke out in

in December 1989, Parry was working for ''

'' and argued that he should be sent on assignment to cover events there.Geoff King, "Photographer dies in plane crash", ''The Times'', 29 December 1989. He spent several days in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

taking pictures of the city recovering after Ceaușescu was overthrown, photographing soldiers with flowers in their arms, as well as funerals for people killed in the revolution. On 28 December he was returning to Britain and managed to find a place on an

Antonov An-24 The Antonov An-24 (Russian/Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-24) (NATO reporting name: Coke) is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport/passenger aircraft designed in 1957 in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau and manufactured by Kyiv, Irku ...

airliner operated by TAROM that was travelling out of Bucharest to

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

to pick up relief supplies. He took with him the undeveloped film from other photographers. The aircraft crashed near

Găești Găești () is a town in Dâmbovița County, Muntenia, Romania with a population of 12,767. History The name of the town comes from a family of nobles (boyars) who owned most of the lands on which the town is now situated. Their name was Găe ...

, 43 miles west of Bucharest, killing all on board. An inquest in November 1990 returned an initial verdict of accidental death. Although to this day the investigation has not been officially closed, the most plausible explanation is that the plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile. A memorial service for Parry was held at

St Bride's Church St Bride's Church is a church in the City of London, England. The building's most recent incarnation was designed by Sir Christopher Wren in 1672 in Fleet Street in the City of London, though Wren's original building was largely gutted by fire d ...

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...

on 30 January 1990. A photograph by Parry of the funeral of a young Romanian killed in the revolution won the Nikon Press Photograph of the Month for January 1990; the picture editor of the

Press Association PA Media (formerly the Press Association) is a multimedia news agency, and the national news agency of the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is part of PA Media Group Limited, a private company with 26 shareholders, most of whom are national and re ...

selected it as the winner because "it summed up better than anything the whole story of Romania and the terrible legacy of sadness inflicted on ordinary Romanians by the Ceaușescus".

Scholarship

After Parry's death, the Picture Editor of ''The Sunday Times'' Aidan Sullivan worked with Parry's family and friends and set up the Ian Parry Scholarship Fund. The fund announced in September 1990 that it would offer photographers aged up to 24 funding of £1,000 plus a further £1,000 for equipment to cover a foreign assignment of their choice."Ian Parry photography award", ''The Sunday Times'', 9 September 1990.

References

External links

The Ian Parry Scholarship Fund
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parry, Ian 1965 births 1989 deaths British photojournalists Journalists killed while covering military conflicts People from Prestatyn Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Romania Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1989 People of the Romanian Revolution Welsh photographers