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Pte. Frederick Parfitt
British Army 2nd Btn. Sherwood Foresters
from:Sheffield
My grandfather, Frederick Parfitt, died in 1965, 5 years before I was born. According to my father he didn't talk very much about his time in WW1, I guess it's the same for many soldiers who served in the Great War. As I never knew him he has always been a bit of a mystery so I’ve spent some time researching his family tree and war record.
Frederick enlisted at Sheffield into the Nottingham and Derbyshire Regiment. His father, also called Frederick served in the Imperial Yeomanry and is listed in the 1901 census at the Military Base in Aldershot.
- Regular Army as a boy 16.03.09
- Posted to 2nd Battalion 23.03.09
- Appointed Private at age 18 07.02.13
- Reported Missing 20.10.14
- Confirmed Prisoner of War in Germany 20.10.14
- Repatriated 28.11.18
- Posted to Depot 28.11.18
- Posted to 3rd Battalion Sherwood Foresters 05.07.19
- Appointed Unpaid Lance Corporal 08.10.19
- Posted to 1st Battalion 18.10.19
- Posted to Depot 02.02.20
- Appointed Paid Lance Corporal 27.08.20
- Transferred to Royal Tank Corps 07.09.20
- Posted to Workshop Training Battalion 07.09.20
- Promoted to Sergeant Unknown
- Discharged – Services no longer required 15.09.23
Service as a boy: 16.03.09-06.02.13, Service with the Colours: 07.02.13-15.09.23, Overseas Service: British Expeditionary Force (France) 08.09.14-19.10.14, Prisoner of War from 20.10.14-27.11.18.
After looking into the 2nd Battalion Sherwood Foresters war diaries it appears that Frederick’s capture by the Germans on 20.10.14 was during the first battle of Ypres where the battalion was completely destroyed at the retreat at Ennetieres on the French/Belgian border.
The photos of Frederick include a couple taken whilst in a POW camp. I have no idea where he was held captive, are there any records held? I feel quite fortunate that Frederick was captured just as WW1 had begun and spent the whole war as a prisoner away from the horrors of warfare that so many soldiers encountered until 1918.
If anyone has any information about the where the POWs from the 2nd Battalion would have been taken it would be gratefully received. I would also welcome any information on what life was like in the Royal Tank Corps after the war finished.
