Most enquiries to the NLHS web site are about fairly benign local, equestrian or family history. But just occasionally they open up a line of further enquiry that leads to the exposure of something totally unexpected and in this case a hidden royal family secret.

The enquirer, Danish historian Poul Krog, had been aware of the fairly successful equestrian career for a jockey called Richard Parkinson that had occurred in the middle of the 19th century in Denmark. Poul also knew that Richard had originated from Newmarket; hence the reason for contacting the NLHS. Richard's equestrian career though had been brought to a very abrupt end - the reasons for this and what had subsequently happened to him seems to have been somewhat shrouded in mystery.

Thanks to painstaking research by member David Rippington we have a very comprehensive story of Richard Parkinson and some family members. Too much for the purposes of this article but the complete story can be made available by applying to webmaster@newmarketlhs.org.uk.

Richard Parkinson and Egremont at the Augustenborg Racecourse - 1837
Reproduced with kind permission of Ketterer Kunst, Munich

To give him his full title, the Duke was Christian August II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, and was a close successor to the Danish throne. In the Danish royal family tree, the Duke's sister was the second wife of King Christian VIII and his mother was the sister of King Frederick VI.

(Parkinson junior) Richard Heinrich Robert Parkinson

His story, including his birth origins are shown in his own biography - Dreizig Jahre in der Sudsee - (Thirty years in the South Seas) - https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ur_NrKoJ_r4C&pg=PR15&lpg=PR15&dq=Louise+sophie+caroline

Richard's legacy in Papua New Guinea is still very well-known and a descendant of his, Max Uechtritz, has compiled his own version of events for Richard's life - http://asopa.typepad.com/asopa_people/2011/02/the-parkinson-legacy-lives-on.html

Louise Sophie Caroline Parkinson

We have to thank our initial enquirer Poul Krog for the following details. His access to the Augustenborg archives has uncovered some of Louise's subsequent life.

Presumably she lived at Augustenborg Castle during her time there as a seamstress. However, during the pregnancy, she moved home to her parents.

She and young Richard later moved to a large house in Storegade (the main street in Augustenborg), where she continued her trade sewing for the ladies in Augustenborg and the ladies-of-the-court at the castle. Louise received a yearly income from the Duchess, even after the Duke family's escaped from Denmark in 1848 - which presumably explains how Louise, as a seamstress, could afford to live in such a large house. This is probably further confirmation that the Duke was indeed the father of young Richard.

Jockey Richard Parkinson's family life

So what happened to Richard Parkinson senior - our vanishing jockey? ... There are no further records for him in Denmark and although he seems to have immediately returned to England, he doesn't appear on any of the early censuses.

It's at this point that to understand Richard's later life you have to find out more about who Richard Parkinson actually was - so let's start at the beginning.

Robert was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire in 1775 and Harriet in Attleborough, Norfolk in 1780. They were married at St Mary's, Newmarket on 13th October 1800.

Robert Parkinson the Stone Mason

On the 1841 census the family were at Boundary House, Exning.
By 1851 his father, mother and brother Edward were living in Paradise Row, All Saints Road. Richard's siblings were Edward (like Richard born in Kennett, Robert who became a stonemason and publican (Grosvenor Arms and later, the Woolpack), John, Charles, William and Thomas .

From 1844 until 1871 there are no records for jockey Richard Parkinson and his life is somewhat of a mystery during this time.

Then in 1871 he appears on the census for that year:-

• 1871 England Census
  Lodger
  Licensed Lodging House
  St Mary Le Strand, London
  b. abt. 1818, Newmarket

'Licensed Lodging House' doesn't seem to be the most salubrious living quarters and the depths that Richard had sunk to become even more obvious in a workhouse record for 1879 and then on the 1881 census:-

• Name: Richard Parkinson
  Birth Date: abt 1815
  Admission Age: 64
  Admission Date: 1879
  Discharge Date: 27 Dec 1879
  Record Type: Admission and Discharge
  Borough: Holborn
  Parish or Poor Law Union: Holborn
  Place: London, England
  Title: Broad Street Workhouse Register, 1879
  
  
• 1881 England Census
  Pauper
  The Strand Union Workhouse

Richard's life then took another strange twist, when in 1890 his brother Charles died. Charles was born in Newmarket on 10th January 1813. He left Newmarket and enlisted in the Royal Navy on 23rd October 1841, progressing through the rank of Ship's Master to become a Navigating Lieutenant.

He served in the navy during the Crimean War (October 1853, March 1856) and was awarded both 6th Class and eventually 5th Class of the Order of the Medjidie.

Charles retired from active military service on 19th March 1855, though he seems to have continued as a Ship's Master around the UK for some years after, until at least 1867. On full retirement he was awarded a navy pension of £50 a year [worth about £55,000 a year in 2016].
He died on 30th May 1890 and as is shown on his probate he was living at No.76 East Street, Manchester Square, Marylebone [East Street is now Chiltern Street, W1] - a very smart mews house in the centre of London.

The key detail here is that Charles left his estate to our Richard, who is shown as having been living with him at that time.

As was shown by all the early records for the Parkinson family they clearly were endemic to Newmarket - so it's no surprise that following the windfall from his brother that Richard returned to Newmarket and is shown as a lodger at the Bushel on the 1891 census:-

• 1891 England Census
  Lodger
  The Bushel, Drapery Row, Newmarket
  b. 1815 Kennett, Cambridgeshire

[Note that the Bushel was directly opposite the Woolpack, where his brother Robert was landlord in the 1850s.]

This census is the key record that confirms that this was indeed Newmarketonian Richard; as it lists his birth place as actually being in Kennett, Cambridgeshire - Richard's brother Edward was also born in Kennett, so the family must have lived there around that time (1815 / 1817).

Edward's 79yo widowed wife Alpha Parkinson was the only other family member still alive in Newmarket by that time (no longer in Paradise Row; as that had been pulled down and the present All Saints Terrace had been built in its place. ( No.16-32 All Saints Road). She was now living in No.7 Alms House at the Rous Memorial Hospital.

Alpha died in 1893 and was buried in All Saints on 12th January. Richard was now totally alone and although he's presently not been found on the 1901 census his death record shows that he died in Newmarket in 1905. The burial register give the place of death as the Union House, but does not identify the actual grave plot. His brother Edward and sister in law Alpha are interred in Old Ground M:1335):-

Sad though this story may seem - Richard Parkinson lived a fairly tumultuous and at times highly eventful life - moved in royal circles - and eventually lived to the ripe-old-age of 89 ... not bad for a humble Newmarket-born 19th century jockey.