PARKER, THOMAS JEFFERY (1850-97) was born in London, the son of Professor W. K. Parker, the eminent zoologist. Having taken his B.Sc. at London University, he became demonstrator to Huxley at South Kensington School and continuously advanced his studies. According to Professor Schufeldt, father and son could be regarded as the founders of the science of morphology. In 1880 he was appointed professor of biology at Otago University and curator of the Museum. On coming to New Zealand Parker continued to further his studies. He investigated the cerebral or pineal eye of the tuatara (on which Haeckel had done some work), and then turned to the kiwi. His observations on the anatomy and development of the apteryx were presented to the Royal Society (1891, vol. 182-3), to which he had previously submitted a paper on the blood vessels of the mustelus antarcticus (1886, vol. 177). To the Zoological Society also he presented papers, notably studies in New Zealand ichthyology (1886, vol. xii) and the cranial osteology of the dinornithidae (1893, vol. xiii). Meanwhile he brought out a series of studies in biology for New Zealand students. Parker's treatises published during this period in Great Britain dealt with zootomy (1884) and lessons in elementary biology (1893). At the time of his death he was engaged, with Professor Haswell (Sydney), on an important work on zoology, the last proofs of which he had already passed for the press when he died (7 Nov 1897).

Parker was the founder of the biological laboratory at Otago University and was a leading member of the Otago Institute. Before coming to New Zealand he had been elected a fellow of the Linnaean Society, and in 1881 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. In 1892 London University granted him the D.Sc. on his work in New Zealand. As a teacher he had few superiors and he was a skilled delineator.

Encycl. Brit., 11th ed, vols 4 and 20; Otago Daily Times, 8 Nov 1897; Thompson, Hist. Otago Univ.

Reference: Volume 2, page 77

🌳 Further sources