Matthew Parker, The Duke of Wellington and the Great Exhibition

What do they all have in Common?

Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury was born on 6th August in 1504.

Parker served as chaplain to Anne Boleyn, was involved in implementing the Thirty Nine Articles, a set of doctrines within the Church of England, he was also an avid book collector, salvaging medieval manuscripts that were set to be destroyed during the dissolution of the monasteries. His efforts meant he left us a priceless collection of manuscripts that are now housed at the Parker Library at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. 

But did you know that Matthew Parker was the first 'Nosey Parker'?

A nosey parker as you will all know, means someone who pokes their nose into other peoples business. Allegedly, people thought Parker was far too inquisitive about church matters for his own good, they also thought he had rather a long nose. 

Here's the man himself. His nose looks okay to me. 

The term itself, sticking your nose into other people’s affairs, can be dated back the the late 1880's. Before then, anyone called nosey was just somebody with a big nose, like the Duke of Wellington, who had the nickname Old Nosey.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first citation of the statement was

                     “You’re a askin’ too many questions for me, there’s too much of Mr. Nosey Parker about you.”

My favourite has to be the 1907 'Adventures of Mr Nosey Parker' a set of postcards illustrating the antic's of a gentleman who never minded his own business.

 Nosey Parker's origins may spring from the 1851 at the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park where a very large numbers of people attended the exhibition, so there would have been lots of opportunities for peeping Toms and eavesdroppers in the grounds. 


Interestingly the word Parker is a medieval term, being used for an official in charge of a park, a park-keeper.