Parry, Edward (d. 1650), Church of Ireland bishop of Killaloe, was born in Newry, Co. Down, son of Rhys Parry, a Welsh merchant. He entered TCD in 1616, and graduated BA (1620), MA (1623), and BD (1630). Elected a fellow of the college on 24 November 1624, he was stripped of this distinction in February 1628, after a dispute with Trinity over his appointment in November 1627 as prebend of Tipperkevin. During his career he accumulated a number of posts, becoming treasurer of Christ Church cathedral, Dublin (29 May 1634), prebend of Stagonil (1637), dean of Waterford (1638–40), dean of Lismore (1640–47) and archdeacon of Glendalough (1643–50). On 11 February 1636 he was appointed to the powerful high commission for ecclesiastical causes. He resided in his house in Stephen Street, Dublin. As dean of Lismore, he initiated legal action in what was a failed attempt to recover church land from the possession of Richard Boyle (qv), earl of Cork.
Appointed bishop of Killaloe in December 1646 on the advice of James Butler (qv), marquess of Ormond, lord lieutenant, he was consecrated in Christ Church cathedral on 28 March following. Within two days of Parry's consecration, parliamentarian forces arrived in Dublin. After Ormond formally relinquished his control over Dublin in June, the parliamentarian authorities banned the use of the Book of Common Prayer in church services. On 9 July a petition from the Anglican clergy in Dublin was presented to the authorities requesting that they be allowed liberty of worship. Parry's signature was the first on the petition. This appears to have made some impact as the Anglican rite appears to have been unofficially tolerated for the next two years.
Parry died of the plague on 20 July 1650 at Chichester House in Dublin and was buried at St Audoen's church. Before his death, he wrote David restored in which he bemoaned the military rule then prevailing in England and Ireland, castigated the parliamentarians as atheists at heart and expounded on his own Arminian theological views. This work includes an engraved portrait of Parry and was published by his son John in 1660. With his wife (of whom nothing is known), he had at least two sons (see below), both of whom became bishop of Ossory, and a daughter Elinor.
His elder son, John Parry (d. 1677), bishop of Ossory, was born in Dublin. Initially educated at TCD, he entered Jesus College, Oxford, where he graduated MA (1651) and was elected a fellow. He graduated BD at Oxford (1661), and subsequently MA (ad eund) and DD (1662) at TCD. Following the restoration of the monarchy, he became chaplain to the now duke of Ormond, and held cures on both sides of the Irish sea. He was treasurer of Christ Church, Dublin (February–June 1661), prebend of Stagonil, St Patrick's cathedral (1661–2), and rector of St James of Jerusalem in Cork (1664). He was at the same time rector of Hope (St Asaph), Flintshire (1660), and prebend of Bugthorpe, York (1663). He seems to have settled in Ireland by 1666, when he was appointed dean of Christ Church cathedral on 2 April 1666, a post he held until his death. On 28 April 1672 he was consecrated bishop of Ossory, where he gained a reputation as a learned and generous prelate. He devoted himself to upholding the rights of his poverty-stricken clergymen and to repairing his ravaged diocese, spending heavily on restoring his episcopal palace and on providing bells for his cathedral. With the aid of his patron, Ormond, he recovered impropriated church property. His published works include Years well-directed; or pious reflections on Our Saviour's sufferings (Oxford, 1670) and A sermon on Nehemiah XIII, 14 (Oxford, 1673). He died 21 December 1677 in Dublin and was buried in the same tomb as his father at St Audoen's. Married to Constance Kennedy, daughter of Sir Richard Kennedy, baronet, he was survived by his son George.
His brother Benjamin Parry (1634–78), bishop of Ossory, was baptised in St Michan's in Dublin on 1 March 1634 and was admitted to Trinity College there on 5 December 1648. In late 1650 he travelled to England with his brother and matriculated at Jesus College, Oxford, on 20 March 1650, graduating BA (10 February 1652), MA (30 May 1654), BD (12 July 1662), and DD (9 July 1670). Elected a fellow of Corpus Christ College, Oxford in 1660, he was afterwards professor of Greek in the university. He held a number of clerical positions in England and Wales: rector of Hope in Flintshire (1666–77), Llaniestyn in Wales (1667), Godington in Oxfordshire (1668), and St Antholin's in London (1671–4). He returned to Ireland about 1672 to serve as chaplain to Arthur Capel (qv), earl of Essex, the newly appointed lord lieutenant. His closeness to both Essex and to his family's longstanding patron, Ormond, enabled him to accumulate further clerical offices in Ireland. He was prebend of St Michan's, Christ Church cathedral (1672–4), prebend of Castleknock, St Patrick's cathedral (1673), dean of Ossory (1674–5), rector of Callan (1674–5) and dean of St Patrick's cathedral (1675–8). In 1673 he preached before Essex in Christ Church cathedral on the anniversary of the execution of Charles I and inveighed against protestant non-conformists of all stripes, urging Essex to enforce the laws against them. He succeeded his brother as bishop of Ossory, being consecrated on 27 January 1678. However, he did not survive this elevation long enough to leave his mark and died 4 October 1678 at Kilkenny. He was buried in Dublin at St Audoen's, in the same tomb as his brother and father, on 7 October. Apparently unhappily married to Elizabeth Barrington (d. 1679), he was survived by at least two sons.