Sir Henry PARKES

[pocketrocket]

There is a town Parkes in NSW, I presume it was named after him.
One of my ancestors lived/lives in Parkes, farmers.
Not much help but thought might be of interest 

Margaret

I grew up there, the Historical Society has built a replica of his cottage from England.  There is also now a statue of him in the square.

[pocketrocket]

Hello, I am also related to Sir Henry Parkes. Although I'm just starting out in researching all this. My Dad's Mother was Annie Amelia Parkes, and as far as I'm to undersrstand Sir Henry P. was her uncle. I'm attempting to put things together. Trying to locate as well relatives that live in and around Vancouver, B.C. as well as world wide.
I've found this group very helpful! Thank you! 

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=1185914414&searchurl=an%3Dparkes%26n%3D200000013%26tn%3Dan%2Bemigrant%2527s%26x%3D0%26y%3D0

[ShaunJ]

Re-posting the link to download the full text of "An Emigrant's Home Letters"

http://www.archive.org/details/emigrantshomelet00park

[pfn61]

Can anyone help me with the names of Henry Parkes' 11 children? Also, did he have a middle name?           

[08smm]

Extract from The Sydney Morning Herald - 28 Apr 1896
SIR HENRY'S FAMILY is as follows (note the date above.....)
The following are the names of the children by the first marriage of Sir Henry Parkes :
Thomas Campbell Parkes, born in Birmingham on 18th April 1837, died 5th May 1837 interred in St. Paul's churchyard. 
Clarinda Martha Parkes, born Cheapside, Birmingham, 23rd June 1838, died on the following day.
Clarinda Sarah Parkes (now Mrs. W. Thom, widow) born on board the barque Strathfieldsaye, off Cape Howe, on the coast of Australia, on 23rd July 1839.
Richard Sydney Parkes, born at Miller's Point 21st December 1843, died 2nd January 1880, leaving a grown up family.
Mary Parkes, born 16th February 1846, died 5th December 1846.
Mary Edith Parkes (now Mrs. George Murray), born 3rd March 1848.
Milton Parkes, born 14th December 1849, died 19th January 1851.
Lily Maria Parkes, born 27th October 1851, died 25th March 1854. 
Annie Thomasine Parkes (still Miss Parkes) born 9th January 1854.
Gertrude Amelia Parkes (now Mrs. Hiscox, of Ashfield), born 13th April 1856. 
Varney Parkes (member of the Legislative Assembly), born 4th June 1859
Lily Faulconbridge Parkes (still Miss Parkes), born 7th February 1862
The issue by the second wife was as follows :-
Sydney, now aged 12 years.
Kenilworth, aged 10 years.
Aurora, aged 8 years.
Henry, aged 6 years.
Cobden, aged 3 years.

Henry Parkes did use Faulconbridge as a middle name for some time, but it was something he just did, it wasn't official.

Cheer Steve

[titchie28]

Hi shaunJ im just wondering if you have found anything else out about sir henry parkes.....my mother inlaw is related to him its from her fatherside and is her great i think *4 great grandfather her name is Tina Parkes her father name was ivor reginald and her grandfather samuel parkes my mother in law was born qQE birmingham and has 1 sister 1  brother also born QE birmingham 1960s so which is my hubbys 5times great grandfather from his mothers side and we are looking for other family memebers that are still alive today ...they did get contacted along time ago from faily from australia but unfortunatley the family memeber they contacted never actually told us until a couple of years later that they had contacted them and now she is very ill and cant remember much about what happened and who they were any info is great many thanks and some great pictures and logs of him im going to be reading about this alot now thanks

we are based the in the worcstershire area ie. bromsgrove and redditch

[ShaunJ]

Welcome to Rootschat, Titchie28.

Sir Henry was quite a celebrity in his day and it seems that many Parkes families in the Midlands claimed to be related to him. However proving the link is difficult.

You will need to trace your mother-in-law's Parkes line back as far as you can and see where it takes you !

Do you have any information about Samuel? His marriage certificate should give his age, occupation, his father's name and occupation. ( I think he married Ethel Dimmock in 1913?)

[titchie28]

hi shaun thank you..

my mother in law has done her familty tree right back to him with birth certificates death certificates and everything we are looking to find family that are in the west mids and australia to maybe 1 day meet other relatives ...my mother in laws grandad always talked about sir henry but it wasnt all good he would say about him but would be good to find family out thier.

[vgt901]

The following information has been written for everyone with the surname Parkes in their family tree who are certain they are related to Sir Henry Parkes because of a family story that has been passed down.

Thomas & Martha Parkes had 8 children between 1801-1815: 3 daughters and 5 sons.

The 3 daughters died unmarried.

Of the 5 sons, one died as an infant, the other four all married and had families. Please note there was no son named John born to Thomas & Martha.

1. Thomas had one son, Thomas Anthony who arrived unmarried in Australia in the early 1850s. He married and had a large family in New South Wales (NSW) from the mid 1850s to the late 1870s. To attach to this family, you will need an Australian connection.

2. James married twice. By his first marriage, he had a son, William born 1832 in Birmingham, Warwickshire who is known to have still been alive in the early 1880s. He seems to be good match to the William Parkes who moved to Lancashire in the mid 1800s. If your Parkes ancestor had ties to/or was from Lancashire, then there's a chance you are connected to Sir Henry Parkes. By his second marriage, James had 3 children. Two died as infants, the other, named Samuel born 1852 in Birmingham had at least 7 children in Coventry, Warwickshire in the period 1880-1900. To attach to this family, you will need a Coventry connection.

3. George also married twice. No issue by his first marriage and 7 children born in Birmingham by his second marriage. Of these, 4 died either at birth or as infants/young children and 3 lived to adulthood - 2 daughters and 1 son. The son and 1 daughter did not leave issue and the other daughter married a Smith.

4. Henry (who became Sir Henry) had 17 offspring who are very well documented. Two died as infants in England before he and his wife immigrated to Australia. The rest were born either en route to NSW or in NSW between 1839 and 1892. If you believe that you are a direct descendant of Sir Henry Parkes but have no Parkes ancestor born in Australia, I think you will find that you are mistaken in your belief.

If you are still determined to find a connection to the family tree of Sir Henry Parkes, you will have to go further back up the Parkes family tree. Here you will find some possibilities as Thomas Parkes, father of Sir Henry, did have many half-siblings. A goodly number died as infants but two males reached adulthood, Edward and Joseph, who are both found in Coventry in different censuses. One marriage has been found for Edward in 1828 in Coventry to a women who was about 46 years old at the time. Still, there is a slim possibility they had issue. Whereas Joseph had not married by the time he was 52 years old. Once again, there is a possibility that he married and had issue before his likely death at 59 years of age. Of the few daughters who survived infancy, no provable marriages have yet been found.

Going backwards another generation, the father of Thomas Parkes was also one of a large family born in Stoneleigh, Warwickshire from the mid 1730s onwards but good luck with proving a connection through any possible descendants as you will discover that the Parkes surname is not at all uncommon in the English Midlands.

I have provided this information for anyone who is actively seeking the truth of discovering whether their Parkes ancestor was connected to Sir Henry Parkes.