Elizabeth Ann Parker
Research by Marjorie Gregson
Elizabeth Ann Hoyle was born in 1867 in Newchurch, Rossendale, Lancashire, to Joseph Hoyle, then a woollen carpet printer, and his wife, Mary.
 
At the age of 14 she was employed as a cotton winder in Newchurch.
 
In 1889 she married Joseph Hiram Parker in Haslingden, Lancashire, where they were living at the time of the 1901 census. By 1911 they were living in Bury.
                   
Joseph Parker was a shoe and slipper manufacturer and until 1905 was in partnership with Elizabeth’s father and her brother, Richard Ashworth Hoyle. The business, called Hoyle, Parker and Company, later Hoyle, Hoyle and Company, started as a cottage industry manufacturing shoes and slippers - first at Shawclough, then, as the firm grew, at Piercy Mill and finally moving to the massive Ilex Mill; many of their 400 employees lived in the adjoining back to back terraces.

The Hoyles were involved in politics, firm Liberals, and non-conformist in their beliefs as Baptists. They were also avid cricket players, providing more than one captain to the local team, and were the owners of New Hall Hey House and Hall, Holly Mount and Carr House, Glengariff.

Portraits of both Richard Ashworth Hoyle and Joseph Hiram Parker form part of the Collection at the Whitaker Gallery, Rossendale. The portrait of Joseph Hiram Parker by Edward Hartley Mooney (c.1878-1938) was gifted by Mrs J H Parker in 1931.
The Minuet by Filippo Baratti

Acc No                 69          
Artist                    Filippo Baratti
Artist dates          1849-1936
Medium                oil on canvas
Size                      93.9 x 134.6 cm
Date painted         Unknown
Donor                    Mrs Elizabeth Ann Parker 
Date donated        19 September 1938
PictureJoseph Hiram Parker by Edward Hartley Mooney oil on canvas, 76.2 x 64.8 cm Whitaker Gallery, Rossendale
In 1906, together with Albert Turner, Parker applied for a patent “for improvements in and relating to felt slippers and their manufacture". With the Patent Application
No 991, the firm was able to produce shoes and slippers more efficiently and at a much faster rate.

By 1924 Elizabeth and Joseph were living at 17 Links Gate, Lytham St Annes. On 4 August 1927, Joseph died, aged 62, on Blubberhouse Moors, between Harrogate and Skipton, leaving Elizabeth a wealthy woman. She died on 11 July 1938.

 PictureThe Ford by Auguste-François Bonheur (1824–1884), oil on canvas, 114.3 x 170.2 cm Whitaker Gallery, Rossendale
In her bequest Elizabeth also gifted The Ford by Auguste-François Bonheur (1824–1884) to Rossendale Museum in memory of her husband.
REFERENCES
www.findmypast.co.uk
www.freebmd.org.uk
www.amounderness.co.uk
www.probatesearch.service.gov.uk
www.lancashirebmd.org.uk
Records of burials and cremations at Lytham Park Cemetery
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/joseph-hiram-parker
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-ford-152762
Morris, E, (2001), Public Art Collections in North-west England: A History and Guide,  available online @ https://books.google.co.uk/books
http://rossendalefootwearheritage.org.uk/index.php/the-firms
https://www.british-genealogy.com/archive/index.php/t-71485.html?s=c6343268106edb309c01c09d4b083050