Thomas Chase Parr

He was the son of John Owen Parr I, a merchant in London and son of John Parr of Liverpool, and his wife Elizabeth Mary Patrick, daughter of Thomas Patrick; John Owen Parr II who became vicar of Preston was his elder brother.[2]

Parr was an East India Company cadet for the 1818 season.[3] In the 113th Infantry, he took part in the Bani Bu Ali expedition of 1821, and was present at the night attack on Sur.[1][4]

Parr commanded the Marine Battalion 1833–1835, and the 7th Bombay Native Infantry, in particular in the 1845 operations in the Southern Mahratta country against the rebellion there.[1]

Then Parr took furlough, an extended period in which he married and started a family. His arrival in the United Kingdom in November 1845 was reported, his rank then being a major in the 7th Native Infantry.[5] The East-India Register and Army List for 1847 has him as a lieutenant-colonel with the 1st European Regiment, on furlough.[6] On 22 February 1849 he was presented to Queen Victoria at a levée, by Thomas Pemberton Leigh.[7] In March 1849 he was given leave to remain in the United Kingdom.[8]

Parr's wife gave birth to a daughter in Bhuj, in 1851.[9] In the 1856 East-India Register and Army List, Parr was listed as colonel, commandant at Kurrachee (Karachi), and on furlough.[10]

On leaving India, Parr took with him the colours of the 7th Bombay Native Infantry.[11] By the late 1860s, he was living in Harrow-on-the-Hill.[12] He moved to Kent around 1873–4, leaving the colours to the church at Harrow.[11] He died at Bickley on 15 June 1883.[1]

Parr married in 1846 Harriet Pott, second daughter of Charles Pott of Freelands.[13] Freelands was a house owned by Samuel Scott as part of his Sundridge Park estate, near Bromley, Kent, from 1818. The Pott family were long-term tenants, to 1876.[14][15]

The children of the marriage included:

• Charles Chase Parr (died 1897, aged 49).[16] He married in 1872 Katherine Anne Millar;[17] their daughter Olive Katherine Parr was the writer Beatrice Chase.[18]
• Alfred Arthur Chase Parr (1849–1914), naval officer.[19][20] Cape Parr in Antarctica was named after him.[21]
• Willoughby Chase Parr, third son, cleric.[22] Father of Martin Willoughby Parr.[23]
• Percivall Chase Parr, fourth son.[24]
• Harriet Bertha, married 1876 Robert Hebert Quick.[25]
• Emily Oliver, artist.[26]

Parr's nephew John Owen Parr III married in 1857 Mary Emily Pott, youngest surviving daughter of Charles Pott.[27]