Parsons / MACPHERSON engagement

[Richard R]

From the Telegraph of 14 June 2018: Mr A. Parsons and Miss M. Macpherson - The engagement is announced between Andrew, elder son of Mr and Mrs Charles Parsons, of Brinkworth, Wiltshire, and Matilda, eldest daughter of Mr Andrew Macpherson, of Hawkesbury, Gloucestershire, and Mrs Amelia Macpherson, of Garford, Oxfordshire.

Matilda Mary (b 1987) d of Andrew James Randolph MACPHERSON and [?his former wife] Amelia Mary (b 1962) d of Francis Arthur Michael BRAY (d 2004) and Victoria SEELY (b 1933, d of Sir Victor Basil John SEELY 4th Bt (1900-80) and gd of 1st Baron ROCHDALE and scion of the ELLESMERE earls, NORMANBY & BATH marquesses and CAWDOR earls etc etc).

[G. Willis]

I had wondered if the Parsons family were connected to a Worcestershire family of that name, so did a little looking:

Charles Parsons appears to be Charles Geoffrey Carstairs Parsons (1952-), of Waldrons Farm, Brinkworth, a chartered accountant and company director; he married in 1984, Alison G., dau. of Keith Hamylton(-)Jones (1924-2008), C.M.G., of Morval House, St Looe, Cornwall, a diplomat (inc. ambassador to Nicaragua and to Costa Rica), Capt. Welsh Guards.

His father was Col Geoffrey W. Parsons (can't find the regiment), of Scarletts (n.b.- presumably Scarletts Farm, Scarletts Lane), Kiln Green, Berks., who married in 1947, Rhona M., dau. (or former wife?) of - Carstairs. They had a younger son, Nicholas J. W. Parsons, b. 1954 [a 'Nicholas John Walter Parsons', b. 1954, appears in company records, raising the further suggestion that his father's middle name was 'Walter' also- a 'Geoffrey Walter Parsons' appears gazetted in relation to the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, having worked his way from Corporal in 1940 to Lieutenant (war substantive rank of Major) in 1947]. Col Geoffrey W. Parsons was born in 1919 at Tamworth, Staffs. (I found a 1996 death record for a Geoffrey Walter Parsons b. 1919), mother's name 'Wilks' (another possibility for his middle name? Given the available evidence I'd err on the side of 'Walter', but it bears consideration I suppose), but I can't definitively locate a marriage for his parents. One, at Walsall, Staffs., in 1910, for Walter C. Parsons and Mary A. M. Wilks, seems likely, however.

Andrew Parsons is Andrew George C. (probably 'Carstairs'?) Parsons b. 1986, and has a brother, John Edward H. (probably 'Hamylton[-Jones]'?) Parsons b. 1988.