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Gnr. Edgar Ernest Parkes
British Army Royal Field Artillery
from:Dawlish Road, Selly Oak, Birmingham
Edgar Ernest Parkes known as Ernie, or Snowy (blond hair) was born in 1898 to quite a poor family of eight siblings in Dawlish Rpad, Selly Oak, near Birmingham. His father was a watchmaker called Walter-Henry, who died young, and Ernie was very attached to his mother Sarah-Ann, hence the inscription on the photo he sent home from the WWI photo-pose.
He enlisted straight away in 1914 aged 16 in the RFA as a gunner, and I found his pink record card at Kew which indicates he landed in France in March 1915. Initially, he was trained to ride a horse, the ones which pulled the gun carriages. He must have been terrified. Near St Quentin, on one sortie towards the front he was blown off his horse and had lots of shrapnel lodged near his eye, he passed out in a muddy shell crater, and woke to find himself being ferried on a stretcher behind the lines to a nursing station. If I could find the family of the medics who saved him I would shake their hand!
Ernie spent three months in recovery, I think in Norfolk, where his sweetheart Lottie visited. The eye was removed and later he had a set of glass eyes to use. He and Lottie married in 1921 and stayed happily in Kings Heath Birmingham where he grew all his own vegetables and fruit in a lovely garden. He was never able to drive a car but had a motor bike and side-car and worked at the Ariel motorbike factory (now the site of Birmingham University student halls of residence). He loved football and founded Selly Park FC. He used to go to all the Aston Villa home games. Ernie was always happy, optimistic, strong, very musical. He had a great voice, taught me as a child all the marching songs from WW1 ("Hinkey Dinky Parlez vous?") and my Dad, his son Gordon, learned piano, so we always had a lot of fun. I remember aged about five asking him what was the bump on his forehead? He replied they couldn't get all the shrapnel out so they left it in and I am here to tell you the tale! He died aged 68 in 1966 but my lovely Nan Lottie made it to 95 years old so we relived his story many times. I have his medals and the blazer badge from the RFA "Quo Fas et Gloria ducunt" - where Right and Glory lead.
