He first worked for local firm Rhodes Motors before setting up F & A. Parkinson and Company in partnership with his brother Albert.

[2] After seeing plans for the new Leeds University buildings in 1936, Parkinson, by then one of West Yorkshire's most successful businessmen, offered to pay for the entrance hall and tower.

[4] After Parkinson's death, the house was loaned to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor when they returned to England in 1947 and two years later it was bought by Sir Montague Burton, boss of the Leeds tailoring empire.

In announcing his gift, he stated, “I have long cherished the ambition to do something to ensure that the kind of assistance which was extended to me as a student should be available to a larger number of Yorkshire students, especially those who might otherwise be unable to contemplate a University career, or who, in spite of proved ability, might be unable to carry on postgraduate research work through lack of means.” [7] In 2009 it was available for full-time post-graduate research and was worth £8000.

[9] In 2001, £100,000 was donated by his trust to fund work at the Frank Parkinson Tissue Engineering Laboratory at Leeds University.