John Denham Parsons

John Denham Parsons (1861 – 14 September 1936)^[1] was an English writer and Shakespeare authorship theorist.

John Denham Parsons
Born	1861 South Stoneham, Hampshire, England
Died	14 September 1936(1936-09-14) (aged 74–75)
Nationality	British
Occupation	Writer

Biography

Parsons was a proponent of the Baconian theory of Shakespeare authorship.^[2] Between 1918 and 1935 he published many works on this topic, including articles in Baconiana and letters in the correspondence columns of Notes and Queries and The Times Literary Supplement.^[2] He attempted pamphlet controversy with Sir Sidney Lee and authorities at the British Museum over the Shakespeare authorship question.^{[citation needed]}

Parsons' book The Non-Christian Cross (1896) argued that the Christian cross symbol is not Christian in origin.^[3]

He was a member of the Society for Psychical Research. Parsons authored a 561 page book The Nature and Purpose of the Universe on philosophy and psychical research, published in 1906.^[4]

Selected publications

• Our Sun-God: Or Christianity Before Christ, 1895
• The Non-Christian Cross: An Enquiry into the Origin and History of the Symbol Eventually Adopted as That of Our Religion, 1896
• The Nature and Purpose of the Universe, 1906
• The Great Taboo in English Literary Circles, 1919
• Ben Johnson and Sir Sidney Lee, 1920
• Boycotted Shakespeare Facts: Being a Preliminary Report Upon the Admissible, 1920
• William Shakespeare, 1920
• Bacon: Being an account of seven years of refusal by the accepted authorities to supply a reasoned judgement concerning certain new evidence affecting.. the identity of the poet Shakespeare, 1922
• The British Museum and Shakespeare's identity, 1924
• Did "Shake-speare" signal?