Richard Thomas Parker
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Richard Thomas "Tom" Parker (1834 – 10 August 1864) was an English butcher and the last person to be publicly executed in Nottingham.[1] In a drunken row with his father, Parker shot his parents, killing his mother. He was found guilty of murder and sentenced to execution. He was hanged on the steps of the County Hall on 10 August 1864.
Parker was born about 1834 in England, the son of Samuel Parker and Elizabeth (née Tutbury) Hart Parker. He was christened in Thurgarton, Nottinghamshire on 26 October 1834. Samuel's parents married after his mother had been widowed. Elizabeth's first husband had been a wealthy man and Parker had four half-brothers from his mother's first marriage.[2] Parker's father was a labourer. He was the only child of his parents' marriage.[2]
Samuel Parker was a butcher. In November 1862, he was publicly declared bankrupt at Newark, Nottinghamshire.[3] At the time of the fateful event, Parker and his wife had been separated and Parker was living with his parents in their house in Fiskerton, Nottinghamshire.[4]