John Desmond Parsons was born in Athlone, oldest child of George and Grace Parsons. He was my father, Andy’s, big brother. He was known as Des. Des was deaf. He attended Portora Royal School, and was in the same class as Samuel Beckett. Des was very clever. He studied Mathemaatics in Trinity College Dublin. He was a degree prizeman in 1929, a scholar of Trinity College in 1928 and won the Michael Roberts Prize in 1927 and the Loyd Exhibition in 1928.
Here is a paper that Des wrote that was published in the Edinburgh Mathematical Journal in 1931. It was entitled ‘Solution with Axial Symmetry of Einstein’s Equations of Teleparallelism’. Tristan McLoughlin, Associate Professor in the School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin , said of it that it was ‘technically it’s a sophisticated, professional work and it seems to have been carefully done. So while I don’t think it’s an important paper, it’s obviously the work of a talented, professional researcher which speaks highly for someone at the early stages of their academic career.
Des became the manager of the Parsons Shops when his father retired. Dorrie Killeen who worked for him as book keeper spoke very highly of him. He married Beppa Sharkey, a Montessori teacher. They were both keen golfers. Des died in 1968 and is buried in the Parsons family grave in Dean’s Grange cemetery.
