John Humffreys Parry (24 January 1816 – 10 January 1880) was a British barrister, who became

serjeant-at-law A Serjeant-at-Law (SL), commonly known simply as a Serjeant, was a member of an order of barristers at the English and Irish Bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law (''servientes ad legem''), or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are wri ...

John Humffreys Parry Vanity Fair 13 December 1873

Early life

The son of

John Humffreys Parry John Humffreys Parry (24 January 1816 – 10 January 1880) was a British barrister, who became serjeant-at-law. Early life The son of John Humffreys Parry the antiquarian (1786–1825), he was born in London on 24 January 1816. He received a com ...

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 public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. 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 exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's I ...

. 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 The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR; known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its ...

. 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 r ...

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 The Tichborne case was a legal ''cause célèbre'' that captivated Victorian England in the 1860s and 1870s. It concerned the claims by a man sometimes referred to as Thomas Castro or as Arthur Orton, but usually termed "the Claimant", to be t ...

, in 1873–4; and Whistler v. Ruskin in November 1878.

Political views

In politics Parry was a

Radical Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics * Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe an ...

—or advanced liberal—and at the time of the first Chartist movement he sympathised with some of their moderate views, and knew many of their leaders: William Lovett mentioned assistance received from him. Parry was also one of the founders of the Complete Suffrage Association in 1842. In 1847 Parry unsuccessfully contested against Lord Douro and Sir Samuel Morton Peto. In 1857 he was beaten in 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 contains a street and public park of the same name. It has no official boundaries but is roughly bounded by Kensington High Street to the south, Holland Road to ...

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the 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 Kensington Garden ...

. 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 Regi ...

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

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 Parr ...

, 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 People from London 19th-century English lawyers