Thomas Gambier Parry
Thomas Gambier Parry, J.P., D.L., (22 February 1816 – 28 September 1888) was an English artist and art collector. He is best remembered for his development of the Gambier Parry process of fresco painting.
Gambier Parry's parents, Richard and Mary Parry of Banstead, Surrey, died when he was young and he was raised by his maternal aunts and uncles, the Gambiers. He was the nephew of James Gambier, 1st Baron Gambier. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.[1] He moved to Highnam Court, Gloucestershire when he was 21 and, in 1839, he married, firstly, Anna Maria Isabella Fynes-Clinton, daughter of Henry Fynes Clinton. Only two of their six children survived to adulthood, Clinton Charles Parry and Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (the composer), with Isabella surviving the birth of Hubert in 1848 by only twelve days. In 1851, Gambier Parry married, secondly, Ethelinda Lear, daughter of Francis Lean, dean of Salisbury, by whom he had six children.
Thomas Gambier-Parry's father and grandfather were both directors of the British East India Company and Gambier Parry devoted his inherited wealth to good works. He adopted the principles of the Tractarian Movement, and was a prominent member of the Ecclesiological Society. Thomas Gambier Parry was a notable collector of medieval and renaissance art; the Courtauld Institute of Art later acquired his collection.[2]
After studying the technique of the Italian fresco painters, Thomas Gambier-Parry developed his own spirit fresco method and executed grand-scale mural projects at Ely Cathedral, Gloucester Cathedral and the parish church at Highnam.
He gained the reputation of a philanthropist, founding a children's hospital, orphanage, and college of science and art at Gloucester, and providing a church and school for his tenants at Highnam.
He constructed the Church of the Holy Innocents, Highnam between 1849 and 1851 in memory of his first wife and those of his children who had died at an early age. Gambier-Parry adorned the whole of the chancel, including the roof, and much of the nave with frescoes using the new Gambier Parry process he adapted from his study of Italian fresco painters.
He started to layout the Highnam Court gardens in 1840 and was one of the first to make a pinetum;[3] by 1874 the gardens rivalled any in the UK.[4]
[edit] Descendants
Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet (1848 – 1918) was an English composer, teacher and historian of music.
On the death of Hubert Parry in 1918, his half-brother Ernest Gambier Parry (1853-1936) succeeded to the family estate at Highnam. Major Gambier-Parry, in addition to his military service, was an artist, author, and musician. He was born on 25 October 1853, and was at Eton from 1866 to 1871. Having served in the Volunteers and Militia, he joined The Royal Welch Fusiliers in 1874 and the Devon Yeomanry 10 years later. In the Eastern Sudan Expedition of 1885 as a special service officer, he was seriously injured and was promoted major for services in the field. For services in World War One, when he was commandant of No. 6 Red Cross Hospital, Oxfordshire, he was made an O.B.E. in 1918. He was a county magistrate and president of the Gloucester Children's Hospital founded by his father.
Major Gambier-Parry was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy and other exhibitions, and served on the Gloucester Committee of the Three Choirs Festival. Among his published works were Suakin, 1885, Sketches of a Yachting Cruise, Day-dreams, The Pageant of my Day, Murphy: A Message to Dog-lovers, Allegories of the Land, The Spirit of the Old Folk Life of Reynell Taylor, and Ainslie Gore: A Sketch from Life. He married in 1882, Evelyn Elizabeth, R.R.C., daughter of the first Lord Haldon. They had two sons. The elder, Thomas Robert, a versatile scholar and botanist, who became Keeper of the Oriental Department of the Bodleian, died in February 1935; the younger, Thomas Mark, was known for his studies in French biography.[5]
Thomas's grandson, Michael Gambier-Parry (1891–1976), also became a soldier serving in both World Wars. As a Captain in World War I he was awarded the Military Cross. In World War II he was Aide-de-Camp to the King, then Head British Military Mission to Athens in 1940. In 1941 General Officer Commanding 2nd Amoured Division, North Africa. He was captured at Mechili in April 1941. In September 1943 he escaped with other officers. He retired in 1944.
Another grandson, Brigadier Richard Gambier-Parry (1894-1965), served in the Royal Welch Fusiliers in World War I and was mentioned in dispatches twice. He was recruited by Admiral Hugh Sinclair to form Section VIII, the communications section of the Secret Intelligence Service. This organised communications with SIS agents, the wireless interception network that served Bletchley Park and the wireless network that got the Ultra intelligence to commanders in the field. After World War II he was Director of Communications for the Foreign Office and SIS.
[edit] References
- ^ Venn, J.; Venn, J. A., eds (1922–1958). "Parry, Thomas Gambier". Alumni Cantabrigienses (10 vols) (online ed.). Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Sarah Burke’s presentation at the Courtauld Institute, June 2007
- ^ DNB
- ^ http://www.highnamcourt.co.uk/
- ^ The Times 17 April 1936
- Farr, D (ed.) (1993) Thomas Gambier Parry (1816–1888) as Artist and Collector ISBN 0-904563-09-X
[edit] External links
- Gambier Parry at Highnam
"Parry, Thomas Gambier". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
| Honorary titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by William Philip Price |
High Sheriff of Gloucestershire 1850 |
Succeeded by William Dent |
