Thomas Parker was the son of an attorney (of the same name), who stayed in the family business. In 1691 he was called to the bar, and became a Member of Parliament. He served under the monarchs Queen Anne and King George I, and was was a favorite of the King; so much so, he was knighted in 1705 and made Privy Counsellor in 1710 after refusing the office of Lord Chancellor.
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| The Earl of Macclesfield, as depicted by Sir Godfrey Kneller. |
Thomas was Lord Chief Justice, the second-highest judge of the Courts of England and Wales, from 1710 to 1718, during which time he was elevated in title to Baron Parker of Macclesfield. His movement up the ladder did not stop there. When Queen Anne died on August 1, 1714 her successor, George I, was in Germany, so Baron Parker was designated Regent until the new king could take the crown. Parker ended up governing until September 18, 1718, and even gave the King's Speech in the House of Lords since the new monarch could not speak English.
In 1718, he became Lord Chancellor, and was eventually advanced to the title of Earl of Macclesfield in 1721 with an additional title of Viscount Parker. However in 1725, fortune averted her gaze from Parker. In this year, Parker was impeached and tried in the House of Lords. The ruling was found unanimously to convict him of corruption. It turns out, Parker took more than £100,000 in bribes, which is somewhere in the range of £11,000,000 today. He was jailed in the Tower of London and required to pay a £30,000 fine before being released. This conviction lead Parker to resign as Lord Chancellor, and to be struck off the roll of the Privy Council.
Unfortunately for Parker, his money was confiscated as part of court proceedings, and thus, this once wealthy man had no resources to quickly pay his fine. Once released from the Tower, Parker spent the rest of his life at his son's estate, Shirburn Castle.
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