Sheffield with milk, a donkey and a favourite dog – for the Royal Academy. He also painted various local subjects such as Sheffield Grinders in the Rivelin Valley and View of the town of Sheffield, from the South East (also published as an attractive hand-coloured aquatint) and watercolour studies of the pupils on school outings such as to Beauchief Abbey and Roche Abbey, and supplemented his income with drawing classes in Chesterfield. Following concerns over the poor quality of design in British manufacturing industries, a Government School of Design had been established in London in 1837. Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786–1846), an artist of great renown (and controversy), was a pioneer in promoting the setting-up of further design schools in regional manufacturing centres where designers, and artisans could study art. While on a lecture tour, Haydon spoke at the Music Hall, Sheffield, and Parker recorded the event in the form of a portrait. In conjunction with the banker and educationalist Dr Benjamin Haywood and a Mr Holland, Parker campaigned for a Sheffield School of Design, which was established in 1843. However, ‘[Parker] had indulged a hope that, as a reward of his exertions he might be offered the post of teacher, but the Government sent down a nominee of their own, and ignored his claims to consideration. The disappointment, and the loss of his wife in 1844, unsettled him. Some time afterwards he resigned his connection with Wesley College, and launched himself into the great world of London.’ A More Measured Life in Hammersmith Understandably, Parker's output diminished over the next few years. Although he kept a London studio address – 42 Newman Street in Fitzrovia – he was still recorded as living in Sheffield and working at the Wesley College as late as 1849. By this date his son Raphael Hyde Parker had followed him into the post of drawing master there. At the start of the new decade Parker had moved to London permanently – living in Hammersmith. There was a short-lived rally with exhibition paintings along familiar lines – fishermen, smugglers and gypsies. For the first time he exhibited in Dublin, and untypically included a few watercolour drawings. Halt – Smugglers was reproduced in the Illustrated London News. By March 1851 Parker had taken a second wife, Mary Anne, who was twenty years his junior. In contrast to the exuberance of Parker's Newcastle days, he now led a