Parker was born in 1954 to Edmund Christopher Parker and Diana Elizabeth Marriott.[1] Through his father, he is a member of the landed gentry, descending from a branch of the Parker family that once owned Alkincoats Hall.[2] His mother was the former governor of Addenbrooke’s Hospital and secretary to the Earl of Cranbrook.[1] Parker's maternal grandfather was William Marriott, the Swiss-born engineer and railway superintendent who founded the North Norfolk Railway.[1] He has two half siblings, Simon and Carolina, from his mother's first marriage to Captain John Swynfen Jervis.[1]
Parker inherited Browsholme Hall, his family seat, in 1975 after the death of his fourth cousin once removed and godfather, Colonel Robert Goulbourne Parker DSO.[3][4][1][5]
In 2010, William Bowland, Lord of Bowland appointed Parker as the Bowbearer of the Forest of Bowland,[6] an ancient ceremonial title of an attendant who, by tradition, accompanies the Lord of Bowland (also known as the Lord of the Fells) during hunts and serves as an officer in the Lord's forest courts.[7] Parker was the first Bowbearer of Bowland to be appointed in nearly one hundred and fifty years.[7][8] Parker's ancestors had claimed the office as a hereditary right, with successive generations holding the title between the 17th and 18th centuries.[9][10][11]
In April 2011, Bowland accompanied the 16th Lord of Bowland, along with other representatives from the Bowland Higher Division Parish Council, the Forest authorities, and community leaders and dignitaries, on an official visit to the village of Dunsop Bridge.[12][13]
In October 2012, Parker was formally presented with his Bowbearer's "wand of office" by Lord of Bowland at a public ceremony in Slaidburn. This ceremony marked the 90th anniversary of the final meeting of the manorial court at the town's Tudor courthouse.[14]