James Hislop Parker

James Hislop Parker (1 February 1897 – 11 September 1980) was a New Zealand soldier, sportsman and businessman. He achieved distinction as a sprinter before representing his country at rugby union, including as a member of so-called "Invincibles" team of 1924–25. He was a decorated World War I veteran, and had a business career that included service as chairman of the New Zealand Apple and Pear Marketing Board.

Early life and family Parker was born in Lyttelton on 1 February 1897. He was the son of Nimrod Parker (1866–1930) and Jane Kerr Hislop (1871–1954), and the grandson of Joseph Parker (1842–1918) who, in 1859, had left Welburn, Yorkshire, initially for the Victorian goldfields, and then for those in Otago, New Zealand.

On 21 June 1924, Parker married Elizabeth Mary Westropp Twemlow (1900–1969) at St Andrew's Church, Christchurch, with Read Masters performing the duties as best man. The couple went on to have one son, Jimmy Frederick Parker (1935–1995).

War service During World War I, Parker served with the ANZAC Mounted Division in the Palestine Campaign.

In August 1916, Parker joined the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and, in January 1917, sailed to Suez, Egypt on the Waihora.

By 23 March 1918, Parker's squadron began to engage Turkish Forces in the Jordan Valley. He wrote in his diary: Parker returned to New Zealand on the transport HMT Ulimaroa and was discharged in August 1919.

Sporting career

Athletics Parker was trained by his father, Nimrod Parker, who had been regarded as one of the best all round athletes in New Zealand. Jim Parker became the 1919–20 Canterbury amateur champion in the 100 yard and 220 yard sprints, and then as a professional, held the New Zealand record for the 75 yard sprint. The Wellington centre of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association supported Parker's reinstatement as an amateur in 1931.

Rugby union

Player

Educated at Christchurch Boys' High School, During his war service in the Middle East, he played for the New Zealand Machinegun Squadron team, which also included players such as Jock Richardson, and Cyril and Maurice Brownlie. Following the war, he first represented the provincial team in 1920, playing both as a loose forward and wing three-quarter.

Coach and administrator

Back in New Zealand in 1925, recurring bouts of malaria and ongoing work commitments curtailed Parker's playing career, and he retired after a few club matches that season.

Parker was a member of the executive committee of the New Zealand Rugby Union from 1939 to 1956, and was the All Blacks' manager on their controversial tour of South Africa in 1949. As a silent protest, the All Blacks did not perform the tradition pre-game haka. Parker stated that, "the war cry is a creation of the Maoris and as we have no Maoris with us we are not giving the war cry."

In 1959 Parker was elected a life member of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union. but left the area in 1929. He became the Nelson manager of the New Zealand Fruitgrowers' Federation (NZFF), and moved to Wellington in 1934 when he was appointed assistant manager at the NZFF head office. By 1945 he was the NZFF general manager.

In 1955, Parker was appointed chairman of the New Zealand Apple and Pear Marketing Board, and served in that capacity until about 1964. In the 1964 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to the fruit industry.