Amanda Parker

Amanda Jane Parker (née Backhouse) is a British businesswoman, philanthropist, and volunteer. She was appointed as a magistrate in East Lancashire in 2005, sitting in both Adult Crime and Family jurisdictions. In 2015, she was appointed by Elizabeth II, in her capacity as Duke of Lancaster, as the High Sheriff of Lancashire. She was the eighth woman in Lancashire, and the twenty-second woman from a duchy county, to hold the office of High Sheriff. She was also the fifth member of the Parker family of Browsholme Hall to serve as High Sheriff of Lancashire.

She was commissioned in 2023 as the Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire, becoming the first woman in Lancashire to ever have been appointed to the office.

Early life and education Parker was born Amanda Jane Backhouse (in 1962) in Our Lady Of Compassion in the town of Blackburn in Lancashire. She was educated at Clitheroe Royal Grammar School and went on to read agricultural economics at Newcastle University before joining Barclays Bank's graduate trainee program. On 10 April 2015, she was sworn in to office at a ceremony held at County Hall, Preston. The Queen's Commission was read by Under Sheriff David Cam, in the presence of Commissioners Victoria Robertson and Georgina Noble, Officiating Magistrate Brian Linfield JP, High Sheriff's Chaplain Rev. John Brocklehurst, The Norroy and Ulster King of Arms Timothy Duke, and The Honorary Recorder of Preston HHJ Anthony Russell KC. After Parker made a declaration to "serve the Queen's writs and execute the good laws and statutes of the realm", she was handed the Sheriff's Patent by Lord Lieutenant Charles Kay-Shuttleworth, 5th Baron Shuttleworth. In 2015, she spoke at a conference in Leyland addressing domestic abuse prevention in work places. As High Sheriff, she joined police officers on night patrols in Preston, Blackpool and Blackburn. And in August 2023, she replaced Charles Kay-Shuttleworth as Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire, the first woman to ever have been appointed in Lancashire in the commission's 500-year history.

Volunteer work and philanthropy Parker has served on the Board of Governors for Thorneyholme Roman Catholic Primary School from 1999 to 2018 and, in 2002, was appointed as chairman of the Board of Governors. Her husband is the Bowbearer of the Forest of Bowland.