Parker, John, Sir (1548 -1618)

John Parker was the eldest son of Archbishop Matthew Parker, and Margaret, daughter of Robert Harleston, gentleman, of Mattishall, Norfolk. His father and mother were married in 1547 during the short period at the end of Edward VI’s reign, when clergymen were allowed to marry. The family were fugitives in East Anglia during the reign of Mary, but on Elizabeth's accession, Matthew Parker became Archbishop of Canterbury. Elizabeth did not approve of married clergy, but tolerated her Archbishop's marriage, though his wife was not allowed to live in any of the Archiepiscopal Palaces. Parker purchased houses at Beaksborn and Lambeth for his wife and sons. John Parker was educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1562. He married Joan, daughter of Richard Cox, Bishop of Ely in 1556, and held various appointments in the See of Canterbury under his father and Archbishop Whitgift. The arms, without the augmentation of three estoiles on the chevron which had been granted to his father, and with the crest of an elephant's head couped, were confirmed to John Parker by Cooke Clarenceux in 1572. He was admitted to Gray's Inn in February 1597, and was knighted by James I in 1603.