The lectures were aimed at young people who had been educated at the Board Schools and wanted to study technical sciences in the hope of improving their career prospects in business and engineering. A booklet was printed for the course, which included sections with simple mathematics and formulas on Newton's Laws of Motion, electricity, dynamos and motors, heat, gases, steam, machinery, chemistry and pneumatics.

Court Works Limited

Far from taking it easy in retirement, Thomas remained active until the end of his life. In 1910 he purchased the Court Works and ran it with his son Charles. The works were founded in 1845 to 1846 by James Foster. He built three blast furnaces near the newly opened mines on his Madeley Court estate. The ironworks closed in 1902 and were taken over in 1910 by Thomas and Charles, who established Court Works Limited, on the site. The works included a foundry, that specialised in castings for the electrical industry, and was known locally as Parker’s. In 1916 the company employed about 60 people.

In the mid 1960s, Court Works Limited specialised in castings for overhead power lines. The products were sold directly to contractors, both at home and abroad. The future looked bright and so another annealing furnace was installed. The firm developed a new form of malleable iron, which was first used in engine cylinder heads. In the early 1970s, demand for overhead power line castings fell, and the business began to lose money. In 1972 it was sold to Newman Industries of Bristol, and then became part of H. W. Lindop & Sons of Walsall, a firm specialising in castings for vehicle manufacturers.

Court Works Limited went into voluntary liquidation on 30th December, 1983, as can be seen from the notice below, that appeared in the London Gazette.

Court Works site then became an industrial estate, which is still called Court Works industrial estate. There was a small foundry on the site until 2003.

Thomas and Jane in their garden at Severn House in about 1914. Courtesy of Gail Tudor.

Oh Father I pray thee to inspire and direct me with the truth, the spirit of the truth, love and thy common Fatherhood. The Gospel of Christ.

Thomas was deeply religious and during his last years he compiled a little book of the sayings of Christ, with parallel passages from the four Gospels. He published the book at his own expense and gave hundreds of copies away to anyone that he met. The book was called "The Gospel of the Kingdom" and the original copy was given to the Shropshire County Library. This was a tribute to his sincerity and the simplicity of his own religious faith.

Thomas died on Sunday 5th December, 1915 after a long illness. Charles Peskin, a contemporary amateur historian, recorded in his diaries that Thomas died from a brain tumour.

There were many obituaries, the Times newspaper of the 8th December included a half-column obituary called "A Versatile Engineer Inventor". At Wolverhampton Police Court, one of Thomas's fellow J.P.s, Mr. Beckett, had this to say about Thomas, on the Tuesday following his death:

As a magistrate it is my somewhat painful duty to refer to the death of the late Mr. Thomas Parker, who was for many years a magistrate sitting on this Bench. He and I were honoured by being placed on the Commission of the Peace at the same time, and for some years Mr. Parker very assiduously attended to his duties as Justice of the Peace here until he left the neighbourhood.

He was always very careful, very exact, and if he had any inclinations at all they were more towards the prisoner in the dock than towards the prosecutor. But a fairer-minded man, as a magistrate, I think it was very rarely our opportunity to meet with. I had known him for many years. He was a somewhat unique character; a man who had risen from low position, and who was never too proud to acknowledge the position from which he came.

My colleagues and I, am sure everyone who has been accustomed to sit in the Court, will agree that we should send our deep sympathy to Mrs. Parker and family in their great loss.

Read an obituary written by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers, and one from The Engineer magazine

Sarah Barker wrote a short poem as a tribute:

Thomas was buried in the Fletcher family's vault at Madeley parish church. 

Amongst the gold medals and diplomas, and other trophies of his successful career that were kept in his study, there was a violin. He treasured it because at the age of fourteen, he had made it with his own hands and learned to play it.

The house had gas central heating, a telephone, a dynamo and electric lighting.

The cover of the sale catalogue for Severn House. Courtesy of the library and archives of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum, at Coalbrookdale.

Jessie presented a memorial to Holy Trinity Church, which was dedicated to her father and still hangs in the church today.

She also presented the church with the cushions for the pews that are still in use today.

Jessie's memorial to her father.

The memorial is inscribed as follows:

Thomas Parker. Courtesy of Gail Tudor.

There was a time, not that long ago, when Ironbridge children used to sing a song about Thomas Parker, at school. Unfortunately this doesn't appear to have been written down. It’s sad that such an important, local, inventive genius, has been forgotten, and that so little has been written about him.

This has been but a brief outline of his life and work. It is, I hope, sufficient to show him as the great man that he undoubtedly was. He had many great achievements and an immense intellectual energy. At the same time he was a deeply religious and modest man who did not seek the public eye and has consequently been overlooked by researchers and historians.

I would like to thank Margaret and the late Maurice Darlington for their help in producing this section. They founded the Ironbridge George Community Archive.

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