Robert Reid Parris

Robert Reid Parris (1816 – 18 September 1904) was a New Zealand school administrator, politician, public servant, interpreter, soldier and judge.

Life He was born in Chard, Somerset, England in about 1816 and baptised on 16 May 1816. On 18 October 1838, he married Mary Whitmore at Colyton, Devon. They had two daughters before they emigrated to New Plymouth in New Zealand, and two daughters and a son after they arrived in the colony on 19 November 1842.

Unsuccessful at farming, he became farm manager at St John's College in Auckland for Bishop Selwyn. Parris was promoted to general superintendent of the industrial school. In about 1852, he moved back to New Plymouth. He was appointed a judge in the Compensation Court in August 1866. He was later a judge in the Native Land Court.