File 4 - Admissions - D

The Reverend Stephen Parkinson was born in 1823 near Keighley in Yorkshire. He was admitted Sizar to St John’s in 1841, gaining his BA as Senior Wrangler and 2nd Smith’s Prize in 1845. He graduated Bachelor of Divinity in 1855 and Doctor of Divinity in 1869.
The rest of his life was spent in connection with the College, and he was elected to a Fellowship the same year that he completed his BA. From 1864 to 1882 he served as a College Tutor, and as President between 1865 and 1871. In 1881 the Mastership of the College was vacant, however Parkinson declined to enter as a candidate.
Parkinson published two textbooks, An Elementary Treatise on Mechanics, and A Treatise on Optics, both of which ran to numerous editions and were the standard works in use at the University. He was a well-liked and generous Tutor, with his Eagle Obituary detailing a student who would have been unable to complete his degree without Dr Parkinson’s financial support. A window in the College Chapel was also gifted by Parkinson, as well as a donation to the College Mission.
In 1870 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society , and a year later married Elizabeth Lucy, who was to outlive him following his death in 1889.

Obituary in the Eagle: Vol. 15, 1889, p. 356.

Accessible online at:

https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Eagle/Eagle%20Volumes/1880s/1889/Eagle_1889_Lent.pdf