John Parker

John Parker (died 28 December 1681) was a Church of Ireland clergyman who came to prominence after the English Restoration, first as Bishop of Elphin, then as Archbishop of Tuam and finally as Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland.

Early life Born in Dublin, Parker was the son of another Rev. John Parker (died 1643), also a Church of Ireland clergyman, dean of Leighlin (1618–37) and then of Killaloe, County Clare until his death. A John Parker is recorded as a scholar at Trinity College Dublin, in 1636.

Career Parker was ordained a deacon in 1638 and in 1642 became a minor canon of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. He was prebendary of Rathangan, in the diocese of Kildare, and in 1643 prebendary of Maynooth at St Patrick's and of St Michan's at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, both benefices previously held by his father. When his father died in 1643 he succeeded him as dean of Killaloe.

Parker was a member of the committee of the Irish House of Lords which drafted a declaration in 1661 to continue the Anglican basis of the Church of Ireland. In August 1661 he was sent to London to present the Convocation's case to the king, and he stayed there until March 1662. King later recalled that after taking up this place he found a great contrast between the humble fare he had eaten as an undergraduate at Trinity and the abundance of the food and drink served in the Archbishop's palace.

In 1679, on the recommendation of Ormond, Parker was translated to become Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland, holding at the same time various other livings. He died at Dublin in December 1681 and was entombed there in Christ Church. Their daughter Elizabeth married Joseph Deane of Crumlin, the heir to estates in the counties of Dublin, Wexford, Kilkenny, Cork, and Waterford, and they had two sons, Edward Deane, who became member of parliament successively for Ennisteoge, County Dublin and County Kilkenny; and Joseph Deane, Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. Their son, John married 2nd Frances Abney, daughter of Sir Edward Abney of Willesley, Derbyshire, England.