Henry Parker

Descendants

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Biography

From the Australian Dictionary of Biography: Henry Thomas Parker (1890-1957), educationist and psychologist, was born on 27 April 1890 at Balmain, Sydney, second son of English parents John Parker, leather merchant, and his wife Sarah Elizabeth, née Morris. His father having become a Baptist clergyman, Henry, educated at Fort Street and Sydney Boys' High schools, also commenced instruction for the ministry, but was never ordained. In 1907 he became a pupil-teacher in the Department of Public Instruction and completed his training at Teachers' College in 1909. After teaching in New South Wales he was appointed temporary assistant at Battery Point State School, Hobart, in July 1914 and, 'successful in effecting an all round improvement' in a backward class, progressed in 1915-20 to teacher-in-charge of schools at Gormanston, Westbury, Strahan and Penguin. On 27 June 1916 at Sisters Creek, Table Cape, with Methodist forms, he married Ina Silvester Belcher; she also became a teacher.

As an outstanding graduate in psychology from the University of Tasmania (B.A., 1918; M.A., 1921), Parker spent 1921 in Sydney and Melbourne where he pursued his work under the "guidance" of E. Morris Miller [note by DS - The quotation marks are mine. It is not clear to me how good their relationship was as there were certainly issues between them related to my grandfather's academic success], making a special study of mental deficiency. [note by DS - He also had a great interest in the nature of consciousness at this time - it must be remembered that psychology was a close cousin of philosophy during this period]. Returning to Hobart in 1922 as supervisor for special classes and attached to the staff of the Philip Smith Training College, he was responsible for establishing the Tasmanian Education Department's first psychological clinic and opportunity classes. In 1924 he opened the Girls' Welfare and in 1928 the Boys' Welfare schools for slow learners.

In 1933 Parker visited the United States of America and western Europe on a Carnegie grant to study special education. Next year, while still on the Training College staff, he was appointed departmental psychologist and supervisor of research. In addition to his clinical work he now lectured in psychology; he also opened a class for the intellectually gifted, modelled on schools in the U.S.A., at the Elizabeth Street School. In 1942 he left the Training College to establish a separate Psychologist's Office within the Education Department; from 1944 until he retired in April 1955 he was education officer and chief psychologist. After spending several months in Africa in 1953 he addressed a United Nations forum on the Mau Mau.

[Added by DS - On a personal not, my grandfather had a great interest in investigating psychic phenomena, like Harry Houdini and Arthur Conan-Doyle. This was during the time when these sorts of phenomena were all the rage in Britain and the USA. It was the time of JB Rhine's work at Duke University. He met the famous magician Houdini, a devout skeptic of these things, during his trip to the USA.]

Parker was one of the founding fathers of Australian psychology and a leader in the development of educational psychology. He was a fellow of the British Psychological Society (1950) and first chairman of the Australian branch. An original member of the Australian Council for Educational Research, he also belonged to the State Library Board and at his death was president of the Tasmanian Free Library Movement. As a member of the federal advisory committee of the Australian Broadcasting Commission, he did considerable work on developing school broadcasting, while his many publications examined intelligence and attainment, physical handicap, speech defects, the development of intelligence testing and curricula for the mentally handicapped. In his J. A. Johnson memorial lecture in 1955 Parker emphasized the need for diversity of curriculum in 'education for citizenship'.

Parker died suddenly in Hobart on 22 May 1957 [heart attack -DS] and was cremated. His wife [Ina-DS] and daughter [Elizabeth-DS] survived him.

Sources

Family history of David Henry Small

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

Thank you to David Small for creating Parker-11585 on 19 Dec 13. Click the Changes tab for the details on contributions by David and others.