Edward Parkes

{{Short description|British academic (1926–2019)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}} {{Use British English|date=April 2018}} '''Sir Edward Walter Parkes''' DL FREng<ref name="List of Fellows">{{cite web|title=List of Fellows|url=http://www.raeng.org.uk/about-us/people-council-committees/the-fellowship/list-of-fellows|access-date=23 October 2014|archive-date=8 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160608094405/http://www.raeng.org.uk/about-us/people-council-committees/the-fellowship/list-of-fellows|url-status=dead}}</ref> (19 May 1926 – 25 September 2019) was Vice-Chancellor of City University London from 1974 to 1978 and of the University of Leeds from 1983 to 1991.

==Life== Parkes was born in 1926.<ref name=orb/>

Parkes attended King Edward's School, Birmingham, and St John's College, Cambridge, where he obtained a first class degree in mechanical engineering.<ref name=Burkes>Burke's Peerage, accessed 24 July 2009</ref>

Other posts included Head of the Department of Engineering at Leicester University in the 1960s<ref name=Times/> and Chairman of the UK University Grants Committee in the early 1980s. From 1989 to 1991 he was Chairman of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals. He was also appointed a Fellow<ref name="List of Fellows"/> of the Royal Academy of Engineering<ref name="List of Fellows"/> in 1982.

Edward and Margaret Parkes commissioned Leicester based architect James Gowan to design them a holiday home on land they had bought above St David's Cathedral in Wales. The resulting ''Round House'' was listed after it was completed in 1967.<ref name=orb/>

Parkes was knighted in 1983.<ref name=gazette>[https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/49328/page/5510/data.pdf The London Gazette 22 April 1983] page 5510</ref> There is a portrait in oils by Michael Noakes at City University.<ref name=BBC>[https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/sir-edward-parkes-b-1926-vice-chancellor-city-university-19741978-134415 BBC Your Paintings] Sir Edward Parkes (image and details)</ref> Parkes died in September 2019 at the age of 93.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-30098?rskey=oThMmN&result=165 |title=Who's Who: Parkes, Sir Edward (Walter) |access-date=29 June 2020 |archive-date=30 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200630153219/https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-30098?rskey=oThMmN&result=165 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Private life== He married the educationalist Margaret Parr<ref name=orb>{{Cite ODNB |title=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |date=2004-09-23 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/99042 |pages=ref:odnb/99042 |editor-last=Matthew |editor-first=H. C. G. |place=Oxford |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/99042 |access-date=2023-02-21 |editor2-last=Harrison |editor2-first=B. |editor3-last=Goldman |editor3-first=L.}}</ref> (1925-2007) and they had two children. Lady Parkes CBE died in 2007 having changed the UK's educational system to include Design and Technology.<ref name=Times>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2351299.ece The Times 30 August 2007]{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} Margaret Parkes.</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}} {{s-start}} {{s-aca}} {{succession box |title=Vice-Chancellor, City University, London |years = 1974–1978 |before=Sir James Sharp Tait |after=Professor Raoul N. Franklin }} {{succession box |title=Vice-Chancellor, University of Leeds |years = 1983–1991 |before=William Walsh (acting) |after=Alan Wilson }} {{end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parkes, Edward}} Category:1926 births Category:2019 deaths Category:Academics of the University of Leicester Category:Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Category:Deputy lieutenants of West Yorkshire Category:English mechanical engineers Category:Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Category:Knights Bachelor Category:People educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham Category:Presidents of City, University of London Category:Vice-chancellors of the University of Leeds