BEFORE arriving in Liskeard to become Vicar at St Martin’s and St Keyne in 1939, John Henry (Jack) Parsons had raced sports cars for the Humber Motor Company, was awarded the Military Cross in WWI, and played county cricket for Warwickshire.

In the February 1958 issue of the St Martin’s Club newsletter, it was reported that a Teddy boy was ejected from the Church Hall by club members for being drunk and using bad language. The youth returned later shouting and threatening to ‘knock the Vicar’s block off’, but he himself was floored by the 69-year-old Rev. Canon John Henry Parsons M.C. At a later meeting between the Teddy boy and the Vicar, the former apologised for his behaviour and asked if he could join the Club. His apology was accepted and was told that ‘the whole affair is behind us’. His request to join the club was accepted and the Vicar even paid the boy’s first year’s subscription.

Jack Parsons died in a Plymouth Nursing Home on February 2, 1981, aged 90, but not before he had been presented with a copy of his biography by its author Gerald Howat; the title is ‘Cricketer Militant, The Life of Jack Parsons’.

By Brian Oldham, Liskeard Museum volunteer and Bard of the Gorsedh Kernow

• The town’s museum has a wealth of local knowledge and history on display. It’s website explains: “In the early 1980s, an exhibition of local historical memorabilia and information was staged in the town’s Guildhall. Following much investigation and discussion, including a public meeting, the town council endorsed plans and provided the funds to set up a one room museum on the ground floor of the town’s Public Hall...Liskeard & District museum was officially opened on May 13, 1985...In the late 1990s, the town council started looking for more spacious premises to enable the museum to continue its growth. The derelict, 19th century Henry Rice building in Pike Street, known locally as Foresters Hall, was purchased...and converted into the present Liskeard & District museum. In the late 1990s, the Town Council started looking for more spacious premises to enable the museum to continue its growth...On May 2, 2002, the museum was unofficially opened by the town mayor and on June 6, 2002, it was officially opened by HRH Prince Charles, Duke of Cornwall.” To learn more about what is on display visit liskeardmuseum.com