Article on page 17 of Dickon Independent issue 85

Old Parr

Thomas Parr was a Shropshire farm labourer. He was born in 1483. But he died in 1635 aged 152! Having lived a healthy life all those years in the countryside, his first trip to London to meet Charles I proved fatal. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.

Old Parr’s portrait hangs in Powis Castle. He became a celebrity and Rubens and Van Dyck painted his portrait. But there are doubts as to his age. William Harvey who did the post-mortem suggested 70 years old. Is it a coincidence that the father of Henry VIII’s sixth queen, Sir Thomas Parr, was born in 1483?

From the Powis Castle guide book page 6 and Wikipedia.

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