▶Date of birth:   24 November 1877       Place of birth: Tottenham, Middlesex

▶Father:  Frederick Parker     Mother: Jane Reeve

▶Spouse(s):  Margaret Emily Rowse    Date(s) of marriage: 18 December 1912      Place(s) of marriage: St Columb, Cornwall

▶Occupation: Schoolmaster; Clergyman

▶Lifestory: Oswald was the fifth son of Frederick Parker, a manager of an iron works, of Tottenham, and his wife Jane (née Reeve). He was educated at Tottenham grammar school, and graduated from the University of London (University College), Intermediate Examination in Laws (second division) 1896, LLB 1900, LLD (gold medal, private study; at twenty-three the youngest candidate to achieve that degree) 1901.

Oswald was a schoolmaster in 1901 at the University School, Southport, Lancaster, and in 1902 he was elected FRGS; he was also exempted from needing to take the preliminary scientific examination in Physics and Chemistry at the University of London that year. By 1906 he had become Principal of Newquay College, Newquay, Cornwall (which operated under the slogan “The Ideal Life for Boys”), and in 1912 he married Margaret Emily, daughter of Ambrose Rowse, of London and Newquay, at St Columb Minor, Cornwall; they had two children. He finally obtained his BSc in 1916, to which he added a BA in 1917 from the University of London, and remained at the school through the First World War until at least 1922.

Retaining his zeal for education, he obtained a DipEd from Lincoln College, Oxford in 1931, and then embarked on the study of Theology at King’s College, London, following this up with lay Church work in religious education and work amongst young people and the study of Modern Languages at the University College of Wales. He was ordained Deacon and Priest (both Gloucester) in 1938, and was licensed Curate of Holy Trinity, Cheltenham 1938-40, when he and his family lived at 11 Pittville Lawn; his son already attended Cheltenham College and his daughter the Ladies’ College. He was appointed Vicar of St Philip and St James, Leckhampton 1940-58, and lived at the Vicarage, Painswick Road, Cheltenham, and later at 109 Leckhampton Road; it was previously announced in 1940 that he would become Vicar of Christ Church, Norwich, but on the offer of this post in Leckhampton he decided to remain in Gloucestershire.

He died in Cheltenham in 1962, at the age of eighty-four. His effects at death amounted to just over £3,100.

▶Moved to Pittville from:  (uncertain)      Moved from Pittville to: Leckhampton

▶Date of death:  23 January 1962      Place of death: General Hospital, Cheltenham

▶Date of burial:         Place of burial:

▶Notes:        ID: 13334

Contributor(s):  John Simpson/Alan Munden