John Horace Parry CMG, MBE (Handsworth, Birmingham, England, 26 April 1914 – Cambridge, Massachusetts, 25 August 1982) was a distinguished maritime historian, who served as Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs at Harvard University.
His academic career was interrupted by World War II, during which he served as an officer in the Royal Navy in 1940–1945, rising to become a lieutenant-commander.
[3] While at Harvard he taught a sequence of courses devoted to sailing, European expansion, and the establishment of overseas empires.
For a year following retirement, he held the Visiting Harrison Chair of History at the College of William and Mary.
[4] His early work dealt with Spain's overseas empire, focusing on the theory and structure of colonial rule, with a series of monographs The Spanish Theory of Empire, The Audiencia of New Galicia in the Sixteenth Century: A Study in Colonial Government (1948) and The Sale of Public Office in the Spanish Indies under the Hapsburgs (1953).