E. Parker

Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley

Esther Parker was born in 1871. She was the daughter of John Thomas Bowley Parker and Selina Martin.

The Parkers were a musical family. John Parker conducted various orchestras in Dunedin and his children played a variety of instruments. In 1882 John conducted the 'first Ladies Orchestra in the Australasian Colonies' for their inaugural performance and in 1884 a concert was given featuring Miss Esther Parker - violincello.

In 1888 Esther’s brother Benjamin featured in the Otago Daily Times with his manufacture of musical instruments. He had made a double bass for himself and a violin and viola for his sister.

In 1899 Esther married George Walker, an engineer aged 44. They had no children and, after George died in 1933, Esther lived with her sister Sarah until her death on 5 June 1952. She is buried with her sister Sarah Parker in the Andersons Bay Cemetery.

Sources