Sir Gilbert Parker, 1st Baronet

Sir Gilbert Parker, 1st Baronet studied at Trinity College. The recorded working language is English. Places of work recorded in the authority are London. Positions recorded include Member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and member of the 30th Parliament of the United Kingdom. Distinctions recorded are honorary doctorate at the Laval University, Knight Bachelor and Person of National Historic Significance.

• Honorific Prefix — The Right Honourable Sir • Name — Gilbert Parker • Honorific Suffix — Bt • Office — Member of Parliament for Gravesend • Term Start — 25 October 1900 • Term End — 27 May 1918 • Predecessor — Viscount Sandon • Successor — Sir Alexander Richardson • Birth Name — Horatio Gilbert George Parker • Born — 23 November 1862 • Birthplace — Camden East, Addington, Ontario • Died — 6 September 1932 • Place of death — London, England • Alma Mater — University of Toronto • Occupation — Writer, politician

• Illustration — Parker at age 18 He was educated as a teacher in Ottawa and taught at Marsh Hill and Bayside schools in Hastings County before becoming a teacher at the Ontario Institute for the Deaf and Dumb (in Belleville, Ontario) in 1882. From there he went on to lecture at Trinity College, federated with the University of Toronto. In 1886, he went to Australia, and for a while became associate editor of the Sydney Morning Herald. He also traveled extensively in the Pacific, Europe, Asia, Egypt, the South Sea Islands and subsequently in northern Canada. In the early nineties, he began to gain a growing reputation in London as a writer of romantic fiction.

• Name — Parker baronets of Carlton House Terrace • Creation Date — 1915 • Status — extinct • Extinction Date — 1932 • Motto — Alis volat propriis • Crest — Upon a tower proper a grenade as in the arms. In May 1905, Parker publicly claimed to have seen a "vision" of fellow house member, Frederic Carne Rasch, despite the fact that Rasch was known to be bedridden at home with influenza. He died in London (England) on 6 September 1932 and on 26 September he was buried in Belleville, Ontario. One of the honorary pallbearers was then Prime Minister of Canada, Richard Bedford Bennett. • 1900 Election, Gravesend • Candidate — Party — Votes — % • Gilbert Parker — Conservative Party — 2,542 — 58.5 • H.A. Harmsworth — Liberal Party — 1,804 — 41.5

The British put forth a large effort to find an able and persuasive writer to effectively communicate with the Americans during World War I. Parker played a crucial and significant role in that propaganda. On 2 September 1914, Parker was chosen by Charles Masterman and the British government to head the subdivision of Wellington House that was responsible for American propaganda. He was unpaid and had no formal title for this role. The goal was to convince America to support the British cause in the war. Parker was supplied with a "large propaganda office" to plan, write, and distribute the new technique of British propaganda. His main objective was to create new relationships and hold onto existing ones with American citizens. To do this, Gilbert showered the American people with writings from people such as Rudyard Kipling, H. G. Wells, John Galsworthy, Arnold Bennett, and George Bernard Shaw. His own writings, known as the "White Papers," were sent into the New York Times in 1914. The subheading of one article read, "A Modest Appeal from Sir Gilbert Parker to read the British Side." His strategic marriage to Amy VanTine, his reputation as a writer, and his social status among the American people, allowed him to establish friendships with many influential Americans in all professions. Using his fame and character, Sir Gilbert Parker flattered the American press with eloquent words and compliments. He called the Americans "fighting people". He also said that "this war will prove them to have everything that they have always had—courage, swiftness if conception, capacity to perform, and a lightning-like directness." His writings essentially "educated" the one source that he knew would reach the majority of Americans. However, he didn't stop there: he continued to spread his "knowledge" by distributing "propaganda material" to American libraries, educational institutions, and periodicals. While focusing on professional establishments he continued to create personal relationships with American elites such as college professors, scientists, doctors, politicians, etc. His method of establishing personal relationships was a landmark later used in other methods of propaganda, "it was the complete and skillful technique later to be developed by many other propagandists, lobbyists, and public relations council."

Parker continued his propaganda efforts up until the year the United States entered the war, 1917. At the beginning of 1917, he visited the United States to meet with Americans he had been corresponding with. On 3 February 1917, President Woodrow Wilson made a speech during Parker's visit that severed diplomatic ties with Germany. The U.S. had almost declared war and Parker believed that he had fulfilled his responsibilities. Later that same day, he resigned from his position at Wellington House, due to failing health, he said. All of Wellington House's activities were kept in complete secrecy. This increased the credibility of their publications, because they could not be traced back to any official sources. Parker's letters concealed their connection and origin with the British government, and his American contacts never realized they were being manipulated. Today his influence on the First World War and America's entry into it is often overlooked, even by seemingly comprehensive propaganda analysis.

• The House with the Tall Porch, directed by J. Searle Dawley (1912, short film, based on the short story The House with the Tall Porch) • The Priest and the Man, directed by J. Searle Dawley (1913, short film, based on the short story The Going of the White Swan) • The Superior Law, directed by Oscar A. C. Lund (1913, short film, based on the novel The Right of Way) • The Translation of a Savage, directed by Walter Edwin (1913, short film, based on the novel The Translation of a Savage) • The Rightful Heir, directed by J. Searle Dawley (1913, short film, based on the short story The Lane That Had No Turning) • Pierre of the Plains (1914, based on the short story collection Pierre and His People) • The Going of the White Swan (film), directed by Colin Campbell (1914, short film, based on the short story The Going of the White Swan) • The Seats of the Mighty, directed by T. Hayes Hunter (1914, based on the novel The Seats of the Mighty) • The Right of Way, directed by John W. Noble (1915, based on the novel The Right of Way) • Jordan Is a Hard Road, directed by Allan Dwan (1915, based on the short story Jordan Is a Hard Road) • The Judgment House, directed by J. Stuart Blackton (1917, based on the novel The Judgment House) • The World for Sale, directed by J. Stuart Blackton (1918, based on the novel The World for Sale) • Wild Youth, directed by George Melford (1918, based on the novel Wild Youth) • Heart of the Wilds, directed by Marshall Neilan (1918, based on the short story She of the Triple Chevron) • You Never Know Your Luck, directed by Frank Powell (1919, based on the novel You Never Know Your Luck) • The Right of Way, directed by John Francis Dillon (1920, based on the novel The Right of Way) • Behold My Wife!, directed by George Melford (1920, based on the novel The Translation of a Savage) • A Wise Fool, directed by George Melford (1921, based on the novel The Money Master) • The Lane That Had No Turning, directed by Victor Fleming (1922, based on the short story The Lane That Had No Turning) • Over the Border, directed by Penrhyn Stanlaws (1922, based on the short story She of the Triple Chevron) • The Lodge in the Wilderness, directed by Henry McCarthy (1926, based on the short story The Lodge in the Wilderness) • The Right of Way, directed by Frank Lloyd (1931, based on the novel The Right of Way) • Behold My Wife!, directed by Mitchell Leisen (1934, based on the novel The Translation of a Savage) • Pierre of the Plains, directed by George B. Seitz (1942, based on the short story collection Pierre and His People)