John PARK(E)S was born about 1822 in Hanley, Staffordshire and like his son, he was a potter. His father was John PARKS, who was also a potter. He was identified as the father of Henry John PARKES on his son's wedding certificate.
He married Mary Ann KNIGHT on 7 Nov 1843 at Bagnall in the Parish of Bucknall, Staffordshire.
John and Mary Ann had at least 7 children but possibly more. Either the children weren't baptized or the records have not yet been published.
No clear census record for 1851 has been found. We do know that in 1851 their son Henry John, 6, is staying with his grandparents, James and Mary KNIGHT on Union Street, Hanley.
The birth of a son William PARKS was registered in Q4 1854 in Stoke on Trent, but had died before the 1861 census.
It is possible that following the death of their son John and Mary Ann decided that the Potteries were too polluted to live in and relocated. John may have hoped to work on Bazalgette's new London sanitation projects which started shortly after the The Great Stink of 1858. They registered the birth of their daughter Elizabeth in Q3 1858 in Hackney (although the 1871 census records her place of birth as Paddington), and daughter Hannah in Farnham, Surrey in the Spring of 1860. Farnham had had a major pottery industry since Roman times supplying London with its pottery needs, so John and Mary Ann may have hoped to find work at the potteries there.
But they didn't stay long. By 1861 John and his son Henry are fitters in Birmingham. Living next door is Herbert PARKES, aged 36, of Belper, Derbyshire. Herbert is not known to be a relation, but his parents were William and Sarah PARKER of Brookside, Belper, Derbyshire, and were Weslyan Methodists. If there is a relationship then the absence of baptisms may be because they were conducted at the Bethesda Methodist Chapel in Hanley aka the "Cathedral of the Potteries" or another Wesleyan chapel in or near Hanley. These registers are not available through existing mainstream search engines.
The birth of their daughter Clara Jane is registered in West Bromwich in 1862, although in the 1871 census she was reported as being born in Hanley. Perhaps Mary Ann went back to Hanley for the birth amd registered the birth on the way back to Birmingham.
By 1871, John and Mary Ann were living in Hepworth, Yorkshire and he is described as a "pott maker". The family were living in a hamlet called Victoria, south of Hepworth.His son Henry John was in an adjacent home with his wife and child. All that remains of their cottage are piles of stone in a field.
Mary Ann died of a gastro-intestinal problem in 1875, aged 52, and was buried in Hepworth.
In the Spring of 1878 the widowed John married Annis SHAW, a widow with three children called Hirst, Frank and Martha SHAW. In 1881 they were living in Victoria with John who is described as a sanitary pipe maker and farmer. Annis is described as a farmer's wife. It's likely that Annis' first husband was a farmer and she had inherited their farm.
It is likely that John and his family had moved to Yorkshire because of a job he'd taken working at a commercial pottery, most likely making building materials such as chimney pots. When John died in 1882 he was described as the Manager of Mr Baker's Brick and Tile works.
John died in 1882, aged 58, after being hit by a passenger train outside Dodworth Station. He had been see walking down the tracks and, while being passed on the other line by a goods train, failed to hear the approaching passenger train or its warning whistle. The impact threw him under the train and his left arm was almost severed between the elbow and shoulder. He was conscious after the accident but died 32 hours later in the Becketts Hospital in Barnsley. The inquest noted that his walking on the line was not unusual as he had been previously seen examining trucks at Dodworth station. A verdict of "Accidentally injured" was returned1.
John was also buried in Hepworth.
Other rabbit holes
There is a 1851 census record of a John and Ann PARKS living in St Clare Street, Hanley with daughter Hannah, aged 3, and Thomas, aged 1 month. But this Ann PARKS is 30 and from Northampton, and the family also appears in the 1861 census so this is not directly relevant.
A later intriguing connection with Farnham and the St Clare Street census above comes in the story of George PARKES, a jigger in a colliery born on 20 Sep 1885 in Hanley, who joined the Navy in Jul 1914, became an airman, and later transferred to the RAF Observer School on 1 Apr 1918, potentially as an instructor or pilot. He accidentally drowned in the Suez Canal on 2 Apr 1920. He had married Ruby Priscilla CROW in Farnham on 24 Apr 1916 and they would have two daughters, Ruby Jeanette and Georgina Bella. The marriage record gives his occupation as airman and his father as Thomas PARKS, deceased. This Thomas was most likely the 1 month old baby in St Clare Street in 1851.
