I have a Reverend William Parker who was at St. James Piccadilly and is listed as having attended Oxford and died about 1803.

His brother or nephew was Captain William Parker who was in the Royal Engineers and was the Governor of the Isle of Man for awhile before he died in 1793.

In my research of the Royal Engineers it appears that this was not a group that you could buy your commission and that it was mandatory that you attend the school at which time you were an Engineer and then granted the comparable army commission.

A brother of the Rev Parker, James Parker, patented Parker's Roman Cement in 1796 but there are suggestions that he was also a member of the clergy although I have not found him in any biographies or school records.

Nowhere have I found what the requirements were to enter these colleges. Was money the only requirement or did it take sponsors and/or social status as well?

Betsy