John Parker, 1st Baron Boringdon


John Parker, 1st Baron Boringdon was a British peer and Member of Parliament.

Origins

Parker was the eldest son of John Parker of Boringdon Hall, Plympton, and Saltram House, by his wife Catherine Poulett, whom he married in 1725, a daughter of John Poulett, 1st Earl Poulett, by his wife Bridget Bertie a granddaughter of Montagu Bertie, 2nd Earl of Lindsey. He had a sister Henrietta Parker and a younger brother, Montagu Edmund Parker of Whiteway House, near Chudleigh, Sheriff of Devon in 1789, who married in 1775 Charity Ourry, daughter of Admiral Paul Ourry, by whom he had issue Montague E. Parker whose daughter Harriet Parker married in 1842, as her second husband, her second cousin Edmund Parker, 2nd Earl of Morley.

Career

He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford. John attended Plympton Grammar School where Sir Joshua Reynold’s father was headmaster.
He was elected to the House of Commons for Bodmin in 1761, a seat he held until 1762, and then represented Devon between 1762 and 1784. The latter year Parker was raised to the peerage as Baron Boringdon, of Boringdon in the County of Devon.
Apart from his political career he was also a collector of paintings at his seat Saltram House in Devon. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in April 1767. In 1783, Parker's horse Saltram won the fourth running of The Derby.

Marriage and progeny

Lord Boringdon married twice:
Lord Boringdon died in April 1788.