John Parsons

John Parsons (1742 – 1785) was an English physician.

Life The son of Major Parsons of the Dragoons, who resided in Yorkshire, he was born at York in 1742. He was educated at Westminster School, becoming a king's scholar in 1756. In 1759, he was elected to Christ Church, Oxford, where he matriculated on 19 June. He graduated B.A. 27 April 1763, and M.A. 6 June 1766.

Parsons subsequently studied medicine at Oxford, London, and Edinburgh, with a preference for natural history and botany, and while at Edinburgh in 1766 was awarded the Hope prize medal for the best Hortus Siccus. In 1766 or 1767 he was elected the first professor of anatomy on the foundation of John Freind and Matthew Lee at Christ Church, Oxford. He graduated M.B. on 12 April 1769, and M.D. 22 June 1772.