Elias parish alvars biography books

With the bi-centenary of his birth falling on 28 February 2008, harpists the world over celebrate the dawn of a New Year – The Year of Parish Alvars

‘Eli, son of Joseph and Mary Ann Parish, born 28 February, baptised 13 March’

So run the Bishop’s Transcripts of the parish records of the church of St James, West Teignmouth, for the year 1808.

Eli was the second of the ten children to be born to Joseph and Mary Ann Parish.  Long-established in Teignmouth, the Parish family was quite numerous, and this particular branch can be traced back as far as Robert Perrish (c.1749-1840).

It will be noted that in the late eighteenth century the surname was spelt Perrish, which probably reflects local pronunciation, but it is also possible that, way back, a sixteenth-century ancestor was one Diego Perris (Perez) who arrived in Plymouth in the 1590s.

By the time Eli was born the family were well and truly pillars of the Anglican faith.

Joseph Parish, a music-s