Styled Viscount Parker from 1721 to 1732, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Wallingford from 1722 to 1727, but his interests were not in politics. In 1722, he became a fellow of the Royal Society, and he spent most of his time in astronomical observations at his Oxfordshire seat, Shirburn Castle, which had been bought by his father in 1716; here he built an observatory and a chemical laboratory.
From 1752 until his death, Macclesfield was president of the Royal Society, and he made some observations on the great 1755 Lisbon earthquake.
In 1750, Macclesfield was offered the honorary position of vice president of the Foundling Hospital,[3] which he accepted and kept until his death in 1764. The Foundling Hospital was a charitable institution created a decade earlier, dedicated to saving London's abandoned children. The Earl seems to have taken his position seriously, as he commissioned the artist Benjamin Wilson to paint a full-size portrait of him, which he then donated to the hospital. The portrait is still in the Foundling Hospital Collection and available to view at the Foundling Museum.
George Parker was born in about 1697 to Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield and his wife Janet née Carrier.[5] George Parker married twice.
Firstly, on 18 September 1722 to Mary Lane daughter of Ralph Lane, Turkey merchant, of Woodbury; with issue:[citation needed]
^"Macclesfield Collection". Cambridge Digital Library. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
^Nichols, R.H.; Wray, F A. (1935). The History of the Foundling Hospital. Oxford University Press. p. 32.
^Hill, Elisabeth (1961). Whyte, Lancelot Law (ed.). "Roger Boscovich: A biographical essay". Roger Joseph Boscovich, S.J., F.R.S., 1711-1787: Studies of His Life and Work on the 250th Anniversary of His Birth: 41. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
