Mr. Hodgson of No. 192 Fleet Street on 18 May 1832, and for which Lever is there stated to have paid two hundred guineas to Emanuel Mendez da Costa, secretary to the Royal Society. Select specimens from the museum were described by Dr. George Shaw [q. v.] in ‘Museum Leverianum,’ ‘published by James Parkinson, Proprietor of the Collection,’ the first fasciculus dedicated to George III and his queen in 1792, and the second dedicated to Sir Joseph Banks in 1796. In 1806 Parkinson sold the museum by auction in 7,879 lots, the sale lasting sixty-five days, and the sale catalogue, compiled by Edward Donovan, filling 410 pages. The building was converted into the Surrey Institution, and was afterwards used for business purposes. Having fixed too low a price for admission, Parkinson had lost money by the museum. He had, however, taken, with some success, to the study of natural history, and added considerably to the collection. Parkinson died at Somers Town, London, on 25 Feb. 1813, aged 83, leaving two sons and a daughter.
One son, Joseph Parkinson (1783–1855), architect, born in 1783, was articled to William Pilkington [q. v.], architect of Whitehall Yard. His first known executed work was the library to the Surrey Institution (formerly the Leverian Museum) in 1809. In 1811 he laid out Bryanston Square, and was surveyor to the Union Assurance Society until 1854. About 1822 he made designs in the Roman style, for alterations of and additions to Magdalen College, Oxford. These were not executed, but between 1822 and 1830 he superintended the reconstruction, in the Gothic style, of portions of the old quadrangle, and added to the length of the library. In 1831 he directed the rebuilding of the body of Streatham Church (Gothic) (Report and Proceedings of the Vestry, 1832, pp. 5–7; Morning Post, 8 Aug. 1832). Parkinson had many professional pupils, including John Raphael Brandon [q. v.] He died in May 1855, and was buried in Kensal Green.
[For the father, see Gent. Mag. 1813, pt. i. pp. 291–2. For the son, see Dict. of Architecture; Ingram's Memorials of Oxford; Buckler's Observations on St. Mary Magdalen, pp. 138, 140; Brayley's Surrey, iii. 432; Wheatley and Cunningham's London, Past and Present, iii. 336; Annual Register, 1831, p. 114; assistance from Professor T. Hayter Lewis and the Secretary of the Union Assurance Society.]
PARKINSON, JAMES (d. 1824), surgeon and palæontologist, was the reputed author of ‘Observations on Dr. Hugh Smith's Philosophy of Physic,’ published in 1780. He was already in practice in 1785, when he attended a course of lectures by John Hunter [q. v.] on the principles and practice of surgery, taking them down in shorthand and afterwards transcribing them. They were published in 1833 by his son J. W. K. Parkinson, F.R.C.S., under the title of ‘Hunterian Reminiscences.’
In October 1794 Parkinson was examined on oath before the privy council in connection with the so-called ‘Pop-gun Plot’ to assassinate George III in the theatre by means of a poisoned dart. He admitted being a member of the Committee of Correspondence of the London Corresponding Society, and of the Constitutional Society, and also that he was the author of ‘Revolutions without Bloodshed; or Reformation preferable to Revolt,’ a penny pamphlet published ‘for the benefit of the wives and children of the persons imprisoned on charges of High Treason,’ and of ‘A Vindication of the London Corresponding Society.’ In ‘Assassination of the King: or the Pop-gun Plot unravelled,’ by John Smith, one of the accused, is a letter from Parkinson, dated ‘Hoxton Square, August 29, 1795,’ detailing his examination.
Between 1799 and 1807 Parkinson published numerous small medical works, but was already collecting specimens and drawings of fossils, as appears from an appeal for assistance at the end of the second edition of his ‘Chemical Pocket-book’ (1801). In 1804 appeared the first volume of his ‘Organic Remains of a Former World,’ which Mantell, in 1850, describes as ‘the first attempt to give a familiar and scientific account … accompanied by figures’ of fossils, ‘a memorable event in the history of British Palæontology.’ The second and third volumes appeared in 1808 and 1811 respectively, when he was still practising medicine at 1 Hoxton Square. This, his chief work, was followed, in 1822, by a smaller one, ‘Elements of Oryctology: an Introduction to the Study of Fossil Organic Remains, especially of those found in British Strata.’ Parkinson died in Kingsland Road on 21 Dec. 1824. He was an original member of the Geological Society on its foundation in 1807, but did not live to see it chartered.
His other works included:
- ‘The Chemical Pocket-book,’ 1799, 12mo; 2nd edit. 1801; 3rd edit. 1803; 4th edit. 1809.
- ‘Medical Admonitions to Families,’ 2 vols. 1799, 12mo; 2nd edit. 1800; 3rd edit. 1801; 5th edit. 1809.
- ‘The Villager's Friend and Physician,’ 1800, 12mo.
- ‘The Hospital Pupil,’ 1800, 12mo, in four letters.
- ‘Dangerous Sports: a Tale addressed to Children,’ 1800, 16mo; another edit. 1808.
- ‘The
