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Authorised form of nameParsons; Sir; John Herbert (1868 - 1957); ophthalmologist and physiologist
Dates1868 - 1957
Place of birthBristol, South West, England
Date of birth03 September 1868
Place of deathUniversity College Hospital, Grafton Way, London, England
Date of death07/10/1957
Occupationophthalmologist and physiologist
Research fieldPhysiology
Ophthalmology
ActivityEducation: Thomas Turner's private school; Bristol grammar school; University College, Bristol; Bristol Royal Infirmary; University College, London BSc with honours in physiology (1890); St Bartholomew's Hospital MB (1892); University College, London DSc (190)
Career:
Assistant and demonstrator in physiology to Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer (FRS 1878) at University College (1892); general practice in Finchley; clinical assistant at Moorfields Eye Hospital; elected pathological curator and librarian at Moorfields Hospital (1900); elected to the consulting surgical staff of that hospital and of University College Hospital (1904); surgeon to the Hospital for Sick Children, Great Ormond Street; conducted a large ophthalmic practice at a house in Queen Anne Street; served on several government commissions, greatly contributing to the provision of adequate lighting of factories; one of the founding members of the Illuminating Engineering Society, of which he was the first chairman of council, president (1924), and honorary member (1943); helped with the creation of the International Council of Ophthalmology (1927); chairman of the editorial committee of the British Journal of Ophthalmology (1917-1948); founding member of the British Council of Ophthalmologists and was largely responsible for its substitution by the Faculty of Ophthalmologists to serve as the co-ordinating and academic custodian of the specialism; served on the Medical Research Council (1929-1932); ophthalmic surgeon to the 3rd London General Hospital (1916-1917); ophthalmic consultant to the home forces (1917-1918); served in advisory capacity to the army, navy, and the Royal Air Foce; left London and retired from practice and lent his house to the French Red Cross (1939); latterly lived in Leeds.
Honours:
CBE 1919; Kt 1922
Memberships:
FRCS (1900)
Ophthalmological Society of the United Kingdom (1900)
President of the Royal Society of Medicine (1936–1938)
Awards/Medals:
Nettleship Gold Medal (1907)
Doyne Medal (1919)
Bowman Lectureship (1925)
Howe Medal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology (1936)
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election12/05/1921
Age at election54
ProposerWilliam McDougall; Charles Scott Sherrington; Ernest Henry Starling; Charles James Martin; William Maddock Bayliss; William Maddock Myers; William Halse Rivers Rivers
Royal Society activityRoyal Society roles:
VP 1941-1942
Council 1926–7 and 1941–3
RelationshipsParents: Isaac Jabez Parsons, grocer, and Mary Goodhind Webb.
Spouse: Jane Roberta (d. 1911), daughter of John Hendrie of Uddingston, Lanarkshire (1894)
Children: One son and one daughter.
Published worksRCN 58346
RCN 58344
RCN 19831
General contextBrought ophthalmology to prominence.
Published papers on ocular pathology and works on the control of intra-ocular pressure.
In his capacity as consultant to the Board of Trade, the problems of colour vision and colour blindness assumed importance: incidentally, colour­blindness had been the subject of his first scientific paper in 1900.
Royal Society Obituary or MemoirClick to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices)
SourcesSources:
Bulloch's Roll
Obituaries:
Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 1958 vol 4 pp 205-214, plate, by Stewart Duke-Elder
Virtual International Authority Filehttp://viaf.org/viaf/52054185
Royal Society codeNA694
Archives associated with this Fellow
Reference numberTitleDate
EC/1921/19Parsons, Sir John Herbert: certificate of election to the Royal Society
CMB/10/21Report on a visit to American Glass WorksNovember 1910
CMB/10/12Report on the effects of light and ultra-violet raysDecember 1909
CMB/10/30Minutes, meeting of the Glassworkers' Cataract Committee11 February 1914
CMB/10/25Minutes, meeting of the Glassworkers Cataract Committee9 April 1913
NLB/67/550Copy letter from William Bate Hardy, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir John Parsons, FRS22 January 1925
RR/67/78Referee's report by John Herbert Parsons, on a paper 'The effect of adaptation on subjective brightness' by K J W CraikOctober 1939
MC/23/336Letter from [James] Herbert Parsons, 27 Wimpole Street, Cavendish Square, to Mr [Robert Harrison], [Royal Society]26 November 1908
NLB/40/326Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to J [John] H [Herbert] Parsons24 May 1909
NLB/38/156Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr Hugh Kerr Anderson, Fellow of the Royal Society, and others20 June 1908
NLB/40/249Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to J [John] H [Herbert] Parsons7 May 1909
NLB/38/707Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Dr [John] Herbert Parsons, [Fellow of the Royal Society]23 October 1908
NLB/40/789Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to J [John] Herbert Parsons20 August 1909
NLB/41/769Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to [John Herbert] Parsons, [Fellow of the Royal Society]23 February 1910
NLB/44/453Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to J [John] H [Herbert] Parsons12 July 1911
NLB/43/269Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Honorable John Herbert Parsons, Fellow of the Royal Society2 December 1910
NLB/45/63Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Dr J [John] H [Herbert] Parsons14 December 1911
NLB/48/487Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to [John] Herbert Parsons, 54 Queen Anne Street, W.11 July 1913
NLB/48/790Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to [John Herbert] Parsons14 October 1913
NLB/50/387Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to [John Herbert] Parsons, 54 Queen Anne Street, W.1 July 1914
NLB/50/39Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to [John Herbert] Parsons, 54 Queen Anne Street, Cavendish Square, W.22 April 1914
NLB/48/844Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to [John Herbert] Parsons, 54 Queen Anne Street, W.23 October 1913
NLB/50/466Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to [John Herbert] Parsons14 July 1914
NLB/50/1Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to [John Herbert] Parsons7 April 1914
NLB/58/449Copy letter from Edwin Deller, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to [John Herbert] Parsons, FRS6 May 1920
NLB/58/211Copy letter from Edwin Deller, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to [John Herbert] Parsons Esquire, FRS27 March 1920
RR/46/64Referee's report by John Herbert Parsons, on a paper 'On seeing with closed eyes' by A H Pirie[October 1932]
NLB/58/94Copy letter from Edwin Deller, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to [John] Herbert Parsons Esquire, FRS13 March 1920
NLB/67/750Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir John Parsons, CBE, FRS27 February 1925
RR/40/79Referee's report by John Herbert Parsons, on a paper 'The absorption of light by the coloured globules in the retina of the domestic hen' by H E RoafAugust 1929
NLB/58/763Copy letter from Edwin Deller, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to [John Herbert] Parsons Esquire16 June 1920
NLB/58/203Copy letter from William Bate Hardy, Secretary of the Royal Society; to [John Herbert] Parsons Esquire, FRS24 March 1920
RR/44/98Referee's report by John Herbert Parsons, on a paper 'On the return of sensitiveness in corneal grafts in rabbits' by J W Tudor ThomasMarch 1931
RR/49/60Referee's report by John Herbert Parsons, on a paper 'The projection of the retina in the lateral geniculate body' by Wilfrid Edward Le Gros Clark and G G Penman[November 1933]
RR/50/35Referee's report by John Herbert Parsons, on a paper 'Problems of the visual pathway' by Frederick William LanchesterNovember 1933
RR/69/159Letter from John Herbert Parsons, on a paper 'Cluster formation by the cones of the fovea' by Hamilton Hartridge1 April 1946
NLB/57/537Copy letter from Sir William Bate Hardy, Secretary of the Royal Society; to JH [Sir John Herbert] Parsons, ESq., FRS28 November 1919
RR/51/3Referee's report by John Herbert Parsons, on a paper 'On directional fixity and the transitory visual image' by Frederick William Lanchester[March 1934]
NLB/57/533Copy letter from Sir William Bate Hardy, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Mr [Sir John Herbert] Parsons, FRS27 November 1919
RR/50/32Referee's report by John Herbert Parsons, on a paper 'Investigations concerning the blind spot of the retina' by Frederick William Lanchester10 April 1933
RR/51/103Referee's report by John Herbert Parsons, on a paper 'Factors affecting the development and regeneration of visual purple in the mammalian retina' by Katharine Tansley[September 1933]
RR/69/149Referee's report by John Herbert Parsons, on a paper 'The anti-chromatic response, part I' by Hamilton Hartridge1945
NLB/65/318Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir John [Herbert] Parsons, CBE, FRS11 October 1923
NLB/57/622Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to J [ Sir John] Herbert Parsons Esq, FRS, MB, FRS; 54 Queen Anne Street, W16 December 1919
RR/69/160Referee's report by John Herbert Parsons, on a paper 'The visual acuity of the human eye for lights of different colour. III.' by Hamilton Hartridge1946
RR/69/158Referee's report by John Herbert Parsons, on a paper 'Cluster formation by the cones of the fovea' by Hamilton Hartridge1946
RR/69/87Referee's report by John Herbert Parsons, on a paper 'X -ray measurement of the diameters of the living eye' by J F P Deller, A D O'Connor and A Sorsby1946
RR/69/151Referee's report by John Herbert Parsons, on a paper 'The anti-chromatic response, part II' by Hamilton Hartridge1945
RR/69/75Referee's report by John Herbert Parsons, on a paper 'Visual adaptation in relation to brief conditioning stimuli' by B H Crawford1946
RR/69/154Referee's report by John Herbert Parsons, on a paper 'The anti-chromatic response, part III' by Hamilton Hartridge1946
NLB/65/417Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir John [Herbert] Parsons, CBE, FRS27 October 1923
NLB/67/609Copy letter from William Bate Hardy, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir John Parsons, FRS29 January 1925
RR/67/82Letter from John Herbert Parsons on a paper 'Photochemical laws and visual phenomena' by B H Crawford to Archibald Vivian Hill6 August 1940
RR/68/260Referee's report by John Herbert Parsons, on a paper 'Some experiments on the trichromatic theory of vision' by H V Walters[1942]
RR/68/261Referee's report by John Herbert Parsons, on a paper 'The spectral sensitivity of the fovea and extrafovea in the Purkinje range' by H V Walters and W D Wright[1942]
RR/69/150Letter from John Herbert Parsons, on a paper 'The anti-chromatic response, part I' by Hamilton Hartridge to u known recipient14 October 1946
NLB/64/857Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir John [Herrbert] Parsosn, C.B.M, FRS2 July 1923
NLB/65/342Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir John [Rose] Bradford, KCMG, FRS17 October 1923
NLB/65/194Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir John [Herbert] Parsons, CBE, FRS17 September 1923
NLB/64/752Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir [John] Herbert Parsons FRS14 June 1923
NLB/64/738Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to [John] Rose Bradford FRS12 June 1923
NLB/66/124Copy letter from William Bate Hardy, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir John Parsons, C.B.E, FRS25 February 1924
NLB/71/333Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir John [Herbert] Parsons, C.B.E., FRS3 April 1928
NLB/67/803Copy letter from William Bate Hardy, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir John Parsons, CBE, FRS12 March 1925
NLB/41/372Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to [John Herbert] Parsons, [Fellow of the Royal Society], 54 Queen Anne Street, W.2 December 1909
NLB/51/569Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society to John Herbert Parsons FRCS27 April 1915
RR/46/125Referee's report by John Herbert Parsons, on a paper 'Comparative studies on the physiology of the iris.-II. Uranoscopus and Lophius' by John Zachary Young[November 1932]
NLB/57New Letter Book volume 57, copy letters sent from Royal Society administration27 June 1919-27 February 1920
NLB/40/25Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to J [John] H [Herbert] Parsons FRCS 25 March 1909
MC/24/92Letter from [John] Herbert Parsons, 27 Wimpole Street, Cavendish Square, to Mr [Robert] Harrison, [Royal Society]31 March 1909
RR/46/124Referee's report by John Herbert Parsons, on a paper 'Comparative studies on the physiology of the iris. -I. Selachians' by John Zachary Young[November 1932]
RR/59/101Referee's report by John Herbert Parsons, on a paper 'Relative luminosity in the extreme red' by Charles Frederick Goodeve[January 1936]
RR/68/72Referee's report by John Herbert Parsons, on a paper 'The photosensitivity of visual purple solutions and the scotopic sensitivity of the eye in the ultra-violet' by Charles Frederick Goodeve, Richard James Lythgoe and E E Schneider[1941]
MC/26/191Letter from [John] Herbert Parsons, 54 Queen Anne Street, Cavendish Square W, to Mr [Robert] Harrison, [Royal Society]13 December 1911
MC/28/208Letter from [John] Herbert Parsons, 54 Queen Anne Street, Cavendish Square, W, to the [Royal Society]4 March 1913
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