Elizabeth Parson

PARSON, Elizabeth (née Rooker). b. Tavistock, Devon, 5 June 1812; d. Plymouth, 1873. The daughter of a Congregational minister, she married T. Edgecombe Parson in 1844. According to JJ, p. 882, she held a class for young men and women in the vestry of her father’s chapel on Sunday evenings. It was known as the ‘willing class’ because people came ‘willingly’. Her hymns were written for these class meetings, and later published as Willing Class Hymns (n.d.) by her former pupils for private circulation. In 1892 JJ dated this as ‘a few years ago’, which suggests that it was a tribute to a much-loved teacher following her death. Her hymns were found in collections in the 19th century, especially...