The son of Major Parsons of the Dragoons, who resided in Yorkshire, he was born at York in 1742.
[1] Parsons subsequently studied medicine at Oxford, London, and Edinburgh, with a preference for natural history and botany, and while at Edinburgh in 1766 was awarded the Hope prize medal for the best Hortus Siccus.
In 1766 or 1767 he was elected the first professor of anatomy on the foundation of John Freind and Matthew Lee at Christ Church, Oxford.
[1] Parsons was elected reader in anatomy in the university in 1769, physician to the Radcliffe Infirmary 6 May 1772, and first clinical professor on Lord Lichfield's foundation 1780–5.
[1] Parsons died of fever on 9 April 1785, and was buried in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, where there was a white marble gravestone to his memory.