The son of a wealthy Lancashire wool trader and merchant, Johnson Parker-Smith was a chartered accountant and excellent lacrosse player. A cover point, or defence point, he played for England against Ireland at Belfast when only 19 years of age. He also won representative honours in the annual North versus South match, and in 1906 scored for South Manchester against Southgate in the final of the Club Championship of England to win the Iroquois Cup. Parker-Smith was in the Great Britain squad that won the silver medal at the 1908 London Olympics. His two older brothers, Henry and Robert, also played for South Manchester.