John Denham Parsons

Summary

John Denham Parsons (1861 – 14 September 1936)[1] was an English writer and Shakespeare authorship theorist.

John Denham Parsons
Born1861
South Stoneham, Hampshire, England
Died14 September 1936(1936-09-14) (aged 74–75)
NationalityBritish
OccupationWriter

Biography edit

Parsons was a proponent of the Baconian theory of Shakespeare authorship.[2] Between 1918 and 1935 he published many works on this topic, including articles in Baconiana and letters in the correspondence columns of Notes and Queries and The Times Literary Supplement.[2] He attempted pamphlet controversy with Sir Sidney Lee and authorities at the British Museum over the Shakespeare authorship question.[citation needed]

Parsons' book The Non-Christian Cross (1896) argued that the Christian cross symbol is not Christian in origin.[3]

He was a member of the Society for Psychical Research. Parsons authored a 561 page book The Nature and Purpose of the Universe on philosophy and psychical research, published in 1906.[4]

Selected publications edit

  • Our Sun-God: Or Christianity Before Christ, 1895
  • The Non-Christian Cross: An Enquiry into the Origin and History of the Symbol Eventually Adopted as That of Our Religion, 1896
  • The Nature and Purpose of the Universe, 1906
  • The Great Taboo in English Literary Circles, 1919
  • Ben Johnson and Sir Sidney Lee, 1920
  • Boycotted Shakespeare Facts: Being a Preliminary Report Upon the Admissible, 1920
  • William Shakespeare, 1920
  • Bacon: Being an account of seven years of refusal by the accepted authorities to supply a reasoned judgement concerning certain new evidence affecting.. the identity of the poet Shakespeare, 1922
  • The British Museum and Shakespeare's identity, 1924
  • Did "Shake-speare" signal?

References edit

  1. ^ "New General Catalog of Old Books and Authors". Retrieved October 26, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Friedman, William F; Friedman, Elizabeth S. (1957). The Shakespearean Ciphers Examined: An Analysis of Cryptographic Systems Used as Evidence that Some Author Other Than William Shakespeare Wrote the Plays Commonly Attributed to Him. Cambridge University Press. pp. 178-180. ISBN 978-0-521-05040-1
  3. ^ Notes and Queries. Volume 9 (June, 1896). p. 280
  4. ^ Lindsay, James. (1908). Reviewed Work: The Nature and Purpose of the Universe by John Denham Parsons. International Journal of Ethics 18 (2): 260-262.

External links edit

  • Works by John Denham Parsons at Project Gutenberg
  • The Non-Christian Cross:An Enquiry into the Origin and History of the Symbol Eventually Adopted as That of Our Religion at Project Gutenberg
  • Works by or about John Denham Parsons at Internet Archive