Edward Abbott Parry

Sir Edward Abbott Parry (2 October 1863 – 1 December 1943) was a British judge and dramatist.[1]

Sir Edward Abbott Parry (portrayed in 1927 in a bookplate designed for him)

Parry was born in London into a prominent Welsh family, the second son of barrister John Humffreys Parry[2][3] and grandson of antiquary John Humffreys Parry, a leader of the Welsh literature movement in the early 19th century. His great-uncle Thomas Parry was bishop of Barbados and his great-grandfather Edward Parry was Rector of Llanferres, Denbighshire.[1]

Parry himself studied at the Middle Temple and was called to the Bar in 1885. He was Judge of Manchester County Court 1894-1911[4] and became Judge of Lambeth County Court in 1911. He wrote several histories, plays and books for children.[5] He was appointed to sit on a Pensions Appeal Tribunal in the summer of 1917, which dealt with appeals against governmental decisions on military pensions, and later published a book on War Pensions: Past and Present, co-authored with Sir Alfred Codrington, another member of the Tribunal.[6]

He died in Sevenoaks, Kent, aged 80.[1]

Parry's autobiography, My Own Way, as published in 1932.[7] To cite one anecdote, he took a summer holiday, probably in 1895 or 1896, in the tiny village of Rhoscolyn on Anglesey and became a great friend of the Revd. John Hopkins, the Rector. When Hopkins died in 1901, Parry was instrumental (with others) in erecting a fine copper memorial tablet in the church. He also published an appreciation in the Cornhill Magazine.[8] There was mutual empathy and warmth of the friendship between two men of very different backgrounds: the London-educated judge, son of a barrister and the iron miner (before his ordination) and son of a Merthyr publican,[9] fined for selling beer during the time of divine service.[10]