Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 43.djvu/272

 Lord Howe at New York, and took part in the reduction of Long Island. In December he was detached with a small squadron for the reduction of Rhode Island, and remained there as senior officer for the next few months. On 28 April 1777 he was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral, and on 11 June was appointed commander-in-chief at Jamaica. It was some time before he received the order, and did not leave Rhode Island till November. At Jamaica he remained during the war, being promoted to be vice-admiral on 19 March 1779. He returned to England in August 1782, with his flag on board the Sandwich, carrying with him the Count de Grasse and the principal French officers who had been taken prisoners on 12 April. His services were rewarded by a baronetcy, 28 Dec. 1782; on 24 Sept. 1787 he was promoted to the rank of admiral, and in 1793 was appointed commander-in-chief at Portsmouth, in which post he continued till 16 Sept. 1799, when he was promoted to be admiral of the fleet. He died in Weymouth Street, London, on 21 Dec. 1811.

Parker is now best remembered as the early patron of Nelson; and it has been suggested that he must have had a remarkable insight into character to have discerned, in the boy-lieutenant, the future hero of the Nile and Trafalgar. But Parker was as unscrupulous as any of his contemporaries in the abuse of patronage, and merely saw in Nelson the nephew of the comptroller of the navy, an officer whose interest was in some respects more powerful than that of even the first lord of the admiralty. Afterwards he was undoubtedly fascinated by Nelson, like almost all who knew him, and Lady Parker became strongly attached to him. At Nelson's funeral Parker was chief mourner as the admiral of the fleet, the senior officer in the navy, rather than as a personal friend. His portrait, by Abbot, is in the Painted Hall at Greenwich.

Parker married Margaret, daughter of Walter Nugent, and had issue a daughter, who married John Ellis, and a son (1761–1804), born in 1761, who was made a captain by his father in March 1779, commanded the Lowestoft frigate at the capture of Omoa in the following October, served in the West Indies under Jervis and in the Channel under Howe, and died a vice-admiral in 1804, leaving two sons, Charles Christopher and Peter (1785–18041814 [sic]), who are separately noticed.

[Charnock's Biogr. Nav. vi. 52; Ralfe's Nav. Biogr. i. 114; Naval Chron., with a portrait, xii. 169; Gent. Mag. 1811, ii. 598; Letters, &c. in the Public Record Office.]  PARKER, PETER (1785–1814), captain in the navy, born in 1785, was the grandson of Sir Peter Parker (1721–1811) [q. v.], and eldest son of Vice-admiral Christopher Parker, by his wife Augusta, daughter of Admiral John Byron [q. v.] He was thus first cousin of George Gordon Byron, sixth lord Byron [q. v.], the poet. As early as 1793 he was borne on the books of the Blanche, then in the West Indies, and afterwards on those of the Royal William, guardship at Portsmouth from 1795 to 1799. Whether he was ever on board either of them seems very doubtful. From April 1799 to January 1801 he served as a midshipman on board the Lancaster with Sir Roger Curtis, at the Cape of Good Hope, and from January to April 1801 on board the Arethusa frigate. On 4 May 1801 he passed his examination, being certified as upwards of twenty-one. On 10 Sept. 1801 he was promoted to be lieutenant of the Alexander, and, after serving in several ships on the Mediterranean and home stations, he was appointed on 7 Oct. 1803 to the Victory, Nelson's flagship before Toulon, from which he was promoted to the rank of commander on 7 May 1804. From October 1804 to April 1805 he commanded the John, hired ship; he was then appointed to the Weazel, which in October was with the fleet before Cadiz, and stationed close in shore. On the evening of the 19th she was not more than four miles from Cadiz lighthouse. At six, on the morning of the 20th, she saw the enemy's fleet getting under way, and signalled to the Euryalus in the offing. She was then sent by Blackwood to carry the news to the ships at Gibraltar and to Rear-admiral Louis (Weazel's Log). Before she returned to the fleet the battle of Trafalgar had been fought and won; but Collingwood was so well pleased with the despatch Parker had made that he promoted him to be captain, dating from 22 Oct., the day after the battle. He was then appointed to the Melpomene frigate, and sent into the Mediterranean on a cruise.

He remained attached to the Mediterranean fleet till the summer of 1808, when he was sent to Vera Cruz to bring back a large quantity of treasure—three million dollars—for the Spanish government; this he landed safely at Cadiz. Unfortunately there were many cases of yellow fever on board the ship; she was sent to Portsmouth, and there Parker himself was dangerously ill. In the following year the Melpomene was sent to the Baltic, where Parker was compelled to invalid. On his recovery he was returned to parliament by the town of Wexford. He took his seat on 9 March 1810, and the same day made a spirited little speech in support