John St. Aubyn Parker, 6th Earl of Morley KCVO DL (29 May 1923 – 20 September 2015) was a British peer, a professional soldier, and county dignitary.
[citation needed] John's military forebears were intrepid courtiers, and one of the foremost families on the isthmus in the south-west, connected so closely with the sea.
The infantry weapons training school employed Parker as an instructor, spending his free time duck shooting on the shores of Lake Huleh near Beersheba.
In 1948, with India in abeyance, he was transferred with the Rifles into the Suez Canal Zone, where unrest threatened the security of the vital commercial ports.
Four days before the conclusion of the ceasefire, Parker departed for Suez again to command a company at Gebelt in the hills behind the Red Sea in the hinterland occupied by Arabs.
He was sent to Malta garrison during the period the island remained a British colony and protectorate before gaining full independence as a member of the Commonwealth.
With extensive landed agricultural properties in the south-west, the company he chaired was Farm Industries Ltd, Truro, where he remained in charge for fifteen years.
Playing such a role in the development of the two cities' tertiary sector, the polytechnic installed an Honorary Fellowship for him, whilst he picked up an Hon LLD from Exeter University.
As the Queen's representative in Devon, he attended many official occasions, visits and events, liaising with the palace, and hosting, among others, President Mitterrand of France.
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh knew and liked Morley, who provided a comprehensive security coverage when royal visitation occurred near sensitive naval installations.
On one occasion Diana, Princess of Wales was notoriously late, driving too fast, broke down, and was escorted at Morley's command by police.
His family lived at Pound House, Yelverton, on the edge of Dartmoor in the heart of the old mining stannaries on the stag moors.
[8] On 15 October 1955 he married Johanna Katherine, daughter of Sir John Molesworth St Aubyn, 14th Baronet of Fairfield House, Somerset.