# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Parsons, John

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​PARSONS. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 24; h-p., 20.)
John Parsons, born 7 Oct. 1791, at Portsmouth, is brother of Lieut. Wm. Parsons, R.N., and of Geo. Parsons, Esq., Master R.N. (1825); nephew of the late Retired Commander Wm. Parsons, R.N.; and cousin of Capt. Sam. Hellard, R.N. Two other of his relatives, an uncle and a cousin, were present at the battle of Trafalgar, where the former was killed.
This officer entered the Navy, 29 May, 1803, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Defiance 74, Capts. Philip Chas. Durham and Hon. Henry Hotham; under the former of whom he fought, in 1805, in Sir Robt. Calder’s action and in the battle of Trafalgar. In July, 1808, after having been for six months attached as Midshipman (a rating he had attained 22 Oct. 1805) to the Gladiator 44, flag-ship of Sir Isaac Coffin at Portsmouth, he joined the Podargus 14, Capt. Wm. Hellard; in which vessel, in the course of the following month, he witnessed the surrender of the Russian squadron in the River Tagus, and assisted, agreeably to the convention of Cintra, in embarking for France the French army defeated at Vimiera. On the night of 15 Aug. 1809, while engaged in landing papers for distribution along the French coast, Mr. Parsons fell into the hands of the enemy, who marched him in chains to Havre-de-Grace, where he was for three months confined to a dungeon, with no other sustenance than bread and water, and in the hourly expectation of being shot. Pardoned at length in consideration of his youth, he was sent, still in chains, to Arras; in the gaol at which place, owing to a subsequent attempt at escape, he was for four months imprisoned. He was then ordered to Verdun, where he remained until Dec. 1813. On 25 of that month, favoured by fortune, he succeeded in accomplishing a flight, in the course whereof; concealed in a cart under a heap of crockery ware, he passed through the centre of the French army on its road to Russia. On reaching the island of South Beveland, after traversing Belgium and Holland, he was taken by the Dutch, but was released the next day in consequence of the latter having declared for the Prince of Orange. Arriving at last in England he was received, in April, 1814, as Master’s Mate, on board the Wolverene 16, Capts. Chas. Kerr and Geo. Guy Burton; in the launch of which vessel, armed with a carronade, he co-operated in the attack upon Baltimore. In Dec. of the same year he removed to the Venerable 74, bearing the flag in the West Indies of Rear-Admiral Durham, his former Captain; and while detached, shortly afterwards, in the Flying Fish tender, he aided in beating off a large American schooner. His promotion to the rank of Lieutenant took place 3 Feb. 1815; from May to Sept. in which year we find him employed, on the same station, in the Crescent 38, Capt. John Quilliam. He subsequently commanded, for upwards of two years, the Duke of Bedford Indiaman, of 720 tons. His last appointments appear to have been – 5 Jan. 1829, as Senior-Lieutenant, for nine months, to the Alligator 28, Capt. Chas. Philip Yorke, on the Leith station – 14 Feb. 1831, in a similar capacity, to the North Star 28, Capts. Lord Wm. Paget and Hon. Geo. Rolle Walpole Trefusis, with whom he served in the West Indies until the close of 1833 – 6 June, 1834, to the command, which he retained until 15 March, 1842, of the Seagull Falmouth-packet – and, 28 June, 1847, to that, which he still holds, of the Crane, another Falmouth packet.
Lieut. Parsons married, 27 Feb. 1834, Miss Anne Rebecca Read, of Norfolk Street, Southsea; and has issue one daughter.