Updated 10 Nov 2007 Albert James Rowing Parker (1870-1901)
282 ROWING PARKER Albert James			b. 1870 Shipdham d. 1901 Mutford R.D.
	282M and/or 223 ROWING Mary Elizabeth		m. 1892 Norwich b. 1874 Doncaster d. 1899 Misson Doncaster
	435 ROWING PARKER Lucy Irene Nellie (became Kidson then Hume)		b. 1892 Bawdswell d. 1981 Doncaster
	379 ROWING PARKER Victor John		b. 1895 Swanton Morley
	436 ROWING PARKER Arthur Stephen		b. 1898 Bawdswell
		This couple were first cousins Albert being the son of James Parker Rowing (or Rowing Parker) and Mary the daughter of John Rowing brothers both of whom hailed originally from West Bradenham. Mary’s maiden name on the birth certificates of the children was given as Rowing Parker. In fact she was registered at birth as Mary Elizabeth Rowing. To my knowledge, her father John Rowing never took the name Rowing Parker. Indeed her death certificate described her and her Albert as Mary Elizabeth Rowing and Albert Rowing respectively suggesting that the Parker may have been dropped after the couple moved to Doncaster. Albert was registered upon his birth as Albert Parker Rowing though the census return of 1881 lists him as Albert P (Parker?)Rowing. Son of James Rowing a farmer of Swanton Morley. After their marriage the couple lived in the Bawdswell area where Albert carried on the trade of Master Butcher.
Somewhere around 1898/9 the couple moved to Doncaster where Albert entered into a new venture. He became the licensee of the Park Drain hotel, Misson. This establishment continued to be used as a pub until a few years ago when it was turned into a private house. Anyone visiting it might be forgiven for asking why such a big place was built almost literally in the middle of nowhere. There are no houses around and the road is no more than a lane obstructed at one end by a DIY railway crossing! According to local folklore, It was built in the anticipation of a mining village to be constructed there. In the event, the development never materialised and so the Park Drain was left isolated. It is remarkable that it has managed one way or another to survive these hundred years. Be that as it may, Albert Rowing Parker’s short tenure of the Park Drain was to be tragic. Mary died of a Cardiac failure aggravated by a Gall stone obstruction and jaundice on the 19th. of August 1899.
		This picture of the rest of the family is thought to have been taken on the day of the funeral The little girl is, of course Lucy the oldest boy is Victor and the youngest Arthur. Albert himself died in Yarmouth in 1901 leaving the children orphaned. Lucy and Arthur children were then brought up by their maternal grandparents and remained in Doncaster the rest of their lives. Victor was adopted by Herbert Albert’s brother and his wife Elizabeth. Upon growing up Lucy married a Sam Kitson. They lived in Don Street Wheatley Doncaster. I am told that Lucy worked for a time at the once famous alas now gone Nuttalls sweet works and I am told she was present when the first batch of the famous Mintoes came off the production line. Before the 1939-45 war she was a Police matron at the then Guildhall Police Station. Police matrons were civilians employed by the police before women police constables were introduced. Their function was to search and attend to female prisoners.
This photograph of Victor and Arthur was found amongst Lucy’s possessions. Arthur was present at Lucy’s wedding in 1912 when he signed the register as a witness. It is thought that he ran a greengrocers shop in East Laithgate Doncaster and was known as Arthur Parker. Victor joined the Army during World War 1. He attested on the 31st January 1916 probably as the result of the coming into force of the Military Service Act of 1916. He was mobilised on the 23rd of March of that year. However, he was discharged on medical grounds on the 21st of July 1916 because of defective eyesight. For sight of Victor’s discharge papers see here At one time the brothers ran a smallholding at Sunnyside, Edenthorpe Doncaster and sold green grocery on Doncaster market as well as a shop on East Laith Gate.