first, Maria, daughter of John Coddrington, by whom he had two sons—Coddrington Parr of Stonelands, Dawlish, Devonshire, and Samuel Parr of Lowestoft, Suffolk—and, secondly, on 27 May 1809, Frances Robson of St. Stephen's parish, Exeter. This lady deserted the doctor after six weeks, but continued to correspond affectionately with his sons.
Parr was one of the founders of a literary society at Exeter which included Polwhele and, for a brief period, the elder D'Israeli among its members. This society published in 1796 a volume of proceedings, in the form of a collection of essays.
Parr, who was fellow of the Royal Societies of London (elected 23 March 1797) and of Edinburgh, afforded important literary assistance to his friend Andrew Duncan the elder [q. v.], the editor of the ‘Medical and Philosophical Commentaries’ and of the ‘Annals of Medicine.’ A large number of the critical reviews in these publications were from his pen. To vol. ix. of the former serial he contributed an interesting ‘Account of the Influenza as it appeared in Devonshire in May 1782.’ His reputation rests, however, on his ‘London Medical Dictionary,’ 2 vols. 4to, 1809, a work of great research and industry.
[Medical Worthies of Devon, by William Munk, M.D., in Exeter Western Times for 1855; Gent. Mag. 1810 pt. ii. p. 595, 1811 pt. i. p. 184; Watt's Bibl. Brit.; notes kindly supplied by the Rev. T. L. Marshall of Sydenham.]
PARR, CATHERINE (1512–1548), queen of Henry VIII. [See Catherine.]
PARR, ELNATHAN (d. 1632?), divine, was educated at Eton school, and was thence elected in 1593 to a scholarship at King's College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1597, M.A. in 1601, and B.D. in 1615. He was afterwards presented to the rectory of Palgrave, Suffolk, a benefice which belonged to the Cornwallis family. Several letters to and from him are printed in the ‘Private Correspondence of Jane, Lady Cornwallis,’ London, 1842, 8vo. He appears to have died about 1632. Tom Martin, the antiquary, notes that a portrait of Parr was preserved at Earl Cornwallis's seat, Broome Hall, Suffolk, and adds that he himself had another at Palgrave.
Parr was the author of: 1. ‘Latin hexameter Verses on the Death of Dr. William Whitaker,’ 1595. Printed at the end of vol. i. of Whitaker's ‘Opera Theologica,’ Geneva, 1610. 2. ‘The Grounds of Divinitie, plainely discovering the Mysteries of Christian Religion, propounded familiarly in divers Questions and Answeres. … To the which is prefixed a very profitable Treatise, contayning an Exhortation to the Studie of the Word,’ London, 1614, 8vo; 3rd edit., corrected and enlarged, London, 1619, 8vo; 5th edit., London, 1632, fol.; 7th edit., London, 1633, 12mo; 8th edit., London, 1636, 12mo. 3. ‘Abba Father: or a plaine and short Direction concerning the framing of Private Prayer. Also sundry Godly Admonitions concerning Time,’ London, 1618, 8vo; 4th edit., London, 1632, fol.; 5th edit., London, 1636, 12mo. Dedicated to Sir Nathaniel Bacon and Jane, his wife. 4. ‘A Plaine Exposition upon the whole eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth Chapters of the Epistle … to the Romanes,’ London, 1620, 4to. 5. ‘A plaine Exposition upon the whole thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth Chapters of the Epistle … to the Romanes,’ London, 1622, 4to. Dr. Edward Williams says this exposition is ‘equally remarkable for soundness of sentiment, familiarity of illustration, and want of taste in style and composition’ (Christian Preacher, 5th edit. 1843, p. 292).
‘The Workes of that faithfull and painefull Preacher, Mr. Elnathan Parr, Batchelour in Divinitie, late Minister in Suffolke,’ appeared in a third edition, ‘enlarged by the authors own hand before his death,’ 4 pts. London, 1632, fol.; 4th edit. corrected and enlarged, London, 1651, fol. Dedicated to Sir Nathaniel Bacon and the Lady Jane Bacon, ‘late his Wife, now Widdow.’
[Addit. MS. 19090, ff. 20, 30, 33; Bodleian Cat.; Cole's Hist. of King's Coll. Cambr. ii. 225; Darling's Cycl. Bibliographica; Fuller's Hist. of Cambridge (Prickett and Wright), p. 153; Harwood's Alumni Eton. p. 201; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. (Bliss), iii. 345.]
PARR, GEORGE (1826–1891), cricketer, born at Radcliffe-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, on 22 May 1826, was the son of a gentleman farmer whose ancestors had farmed their own land for more than two hundred years. He came of a cricketing family, the most celebrated player in which, except himself, was his brother Samuel. He first appeared at Lord's in 1845, and became famous originally by his performances for Clarke's touring eleven, which he joined in 1847, and to the captaincy of which he succeeded in 1857. In these matches, played against odds, he made 100 against Leicester, 118 against Sussex, 101 against Cornwall, 99 against Huddersfield, 96 against Yorkshire, and 90 against Louth, besides many other excellent scores. He first played for the players against the gentlemen in 1846, the match in which Clarke, the slow bowler, a much older man,
