Richard Timothy George Mansfield Parker, 9th Earl of Macclesfield (born 31 May 1943), is a British

hereditary peer The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of April 2025, there are 800 hereditary peers: 30 dukes (including six royal dukes), 34 marquesses, 189 earls, 108 viscounts, and 439 barons (not counting subsidiary ...

. He was a member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

from 1992 until 1999.

Early life

The son of George Parker, 8th Earl of Macclesfield, and his wife Valerie Mansfield, he was educated at

Stowe School The Stowe School is a public school (English private boarding school) for pupils aged 13–18 in the countryside of Stowe, England. It was opened on 11 May, 1923 at Stowe House, a Grade I Heritage Estate belonging to the British Crown. ...

and

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...

.''

Burkes Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish geneal ...

'', volume 2 (2003), p. 2456.

Career

On 7 December 1992 he succeeded his father in his titles.

Shirburn Castle

Macclesfield was the last of the Parker family to live at

Shirburn Castle Shirburn Castle is a Grade I listed building, Grade I listed, moated castle located at the village of Shirburn, near Watlington, Oxfordshire, Watlington, Oxfordshire. Originally constructed in the fourteenth century, it was renovated and remode ...

, from which he was evicted in 2005 by other members of a family company which owned the property. They contended in court that he was "no more than tenant at will". However, the contents of the castle had been given to Macclesfield in 1967 by his grandfather, including three important libraries. Macclesfield then decided to sell the libraries and some other items from the castle, including the Macclesfield Psalter, now in the

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities University museum, museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard ...

, and the Macclesfield Alphabet Book, now in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

. The receipts came to more than £16 million, "the highest total ever for any sale of scientific books and manuscripts". A painting by

George Stubbs George Stubbs (25 August 1724 – 10 July 1806) was an English painter, best known for his paintings of horses. Self-trained, Stubbs learnt his skills independently from other great artists of the 18th century such as Joshua Reynolds and Thoma ...

, "Brood Mares and Foals", was sold at auction in 2010 for £10,121,250, a record price for Stubbs.Sotheby's Press Release: Sotheby’s Evening Sale of Old Master & British Paintings Realises £23,577,600 / $37,054,556 / €28,179,870
8 December 2010.

Personal life

On 11 August 1967 he married firstly Tatiana Cleone Anne Wheaton-Smith, daughter of Major Craig Wheaton-Smith. They were divorced in 1985, and in 1986 he married Sandra Hope Fiore. By his first wife he has three daughters: *Lady Tanya Susan (born 1971) *Lady Katherine Anne (born 1973) *Lady Marion Jane (born 1973) As he has no male issue, the heir presumptive is his younger brother, the Hon. (Jonathan) David Geoffrey Parker (born 1945).

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macclesfield, Richard Parker, 9th Earl 1943 births Living people People educated at Stowe School Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

209 Year 209 ( CCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Commodus and Lollianus (or, less frequently, year 962 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 209 for this y ...

Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...