|
|
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.
If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.
Site Home
Help & FAQs
Features
Submissions
Information
Advertisements
World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment
Pte. Robert Thomas Parker
British Army 1st Battalion South Wales Borderers
from:Bristol
Robert Parker born in 1892 was the son of Ambrose Parker and Mary Ann Leeworthy. He joined the South Wales Borderers on the 8th September 1903 as 8222 Pte Robert Parker. He married Sarah Amy Esling on the 2nd of July 1912. He was recalled from the reserve 4th August 1914 at Bordon Hampshire and travelled to France. Arriving at Le Havre on the 13th August 1914 with the 1st SWB. He was wounded in the face and lower jaw on the 30th of September 1914, but we do not know where. Robert served time in the Labour Corps with 552 Home Service Employment Corp. Regt No 266475 in July 1917 and also served with the 16th Btn. South Lancashire Regiment. Regt No 64665. in 1918. He was transferred to reserve on the 25th February 1919, listed as Medical Category B11 and holding a Qualification 3rd Class certificate.
Pte. Robert Winder Parker
British Army 1st Batt. West Yorkshire
from:Lincoln
(d.20th Sept. 1914)
Pte. Robert John Parker
British Army 15th Btn. Royal Irish Rifles
from:Belfast
(d.19th Aug 1918)
Pte. Robert Henry Parker
British Army 1st Btn. Royal Berkshire Regiment
from:12 Union Street, Oxford
(d.30th Oct 1914)
My Great Uncle, Robert Henry Parker was killed in action at Zonnebeke just east of Ypres, possibly at the Battle of Geluveld. My Grandmother was his sister. He was awarded the 1914 Star with Clasp. Robert has no known grave, but is commemorated at the Menin Gate Ypres. I visited there in December 2018 to remember him. Unfortunately I have no photograph of him.
Cpl. Sidney Parker
10th Btn. A Coy. Royal Welsh Fusiliers
from:Richards Castle, Shropshire
(d.9th April 1917)
Sidney Parker served with 10th Btn. Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
Pioneer Stanley John Ernest Parker
British Army 70th Coy. Royal Engineers
from:82 Arthur Street, Erith, Kent
(d.9th October 1915)
Dvr. Stanley Charles Parker
British Army 156th Brigade Royal Field Artillery
(d.5th Aug 1916)
Pte. Thomas Parker
British Army 7th Battalion Black Watch
from:Leslie, Fife
(d.26th March 1918)
My Great Grandfather, Thomas Parker, husband of Jane Campbell Parker from Leslie, Fife. Died in the 1st Battle of Bapaume (as far as my research leads me to believe)
A/Cpl. Thomas Henry Parker
British Army 2nd Btn. Royal Welsh Fusiliers
from:Rugeley, Staffordshire
(d.6th Nov 1916)
Before the war, Thomas Parker had territorial service with North Staffordshire Regiment, No. T958 He attested in Birmingham on the 15th of November 1915, age 25 years & 1 month. Giving his trade as Policeman (Birmingham). Thomas was appointed Acting Corporal on the 24th of November 1915 and on the 16th of August 1916, embarked onboard the SS Archangel at Southampton. Disembarking at Rouen the following day. He joined 2nd Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers in the field in France in the Somme battle sector on the 21st. He was killed in action on the 6th of November 1916, aged 26 and is buried in London Road Cemetery, High Wood, Somme. He was the son of Henry and Frances (née Upton) Parker of Rugeley, Staffordshire.
Pte. Thomas Bateman Parker
British Army 11th Battalion Border Regiment
from:Laithes Farm, Skelton, Cumberland
(d.1st July 1916)
Thomas Parker was my grandmother's brother and, like so many, his body was never found, he is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial.
L/Cpl. Thomas Cyril Edward Parker
from:Leicester
(d.17th Nov 1917)
Capt. Tom Geoffrey Melsome Parker
British Army Royal Army Medical Corps
from:Castle Street, Salisbury
(d.3rd Nov 1918)
Tom Parker was the elder brother of Captain George Alec Parker, DSO, MC of the RFC, who was shot down over France in November 1916. Tom Parker is understood to have died from flu in the 1918 pandemic.
Cpl. Walter Harry Parker
British Army 2nd Btn. Middlesex Regiment
from:St Marylebone, London
He was in the 2nd Middlesex Regiment and had a campaign medal from august 5th-22.november 1914.
William Arthur Parker
Royal Air Force
from:Rugeley, Staffordshire
William Parker enlisted on the 19th of June 1918 aged 17 years 11 months he was a Electric fitter by trade. He transferred to Royal Air Force Reserve on the 19th of November 1919. Son of Henry and Frances (née Upton) Parker of Rugeley, Staffordshire.
Pte. William Donald Parker
British Army 2nd Btn. South Lancashire Regiment
from:Rushden
(d.7th October 1918)
William Parker was my grandfather's brother. Joined up aged 16 in 1914. He was taken prisoner April 1918 at the Battle of the Lys and was held behind the German rear lines. During a British air raid on 7th of October 1918 a bomb was dropped near to his billet shattering the windows, a piece of glass hit and killed him. To have served the whole war only to be killed accidentally within 5 or 6 weeks of the end of the war was tragic.
Pte. Alexander Henry Parkes
British Army 2nd Bn. Royal Fusiliers
from:164 Central St., City Rd., London.
(d.1st Sep 1916)
Alexander Henry Parkes was my Grandfather. He fought in the Battle of the Somme and was killed aged 40 at Delville Wood. He is buried in Delville Wood Cemetery.
Pte Alexander Henry Parkes
British Army 2nd Btn. Royal Fusiliers
from:London
(d.1st Sep 1916)
Pte. Alfred Parkes
British Army 2nd Btn. Suffolk Regiment
from:Birmingham
Alfred Parkes was a Boy Soldier. He was only just 16 years old when he was volunteering in August 1915. He was drafted three months later to the Western Front where he was engaged in several sectors and took part in the Battle of the Somme, the Battle at Arras, the Battle at Cambrai and finally the Battle of St Quentin. During these engagements he was wounded and afterwards returning home he was discharged in November 1918. He holds the 1914 - 1915 Star, British War and Victory Medals.
Gunner Edgar Ernest "Snowy" Parkes
Royal Field Artillery
from:Dawlish Rd, Selly Oak Birmingham and later 14 Brent Rd Stirchley Birmingham 30 now Kings Heath.
Edgar Ernest Parkes was my much loved Grandpa. He was always called Ernie, and also known to friends as Snowy, presumably since he had very fair hair! We are all inheritors of that blonde gene in the family.
Ernie signed up immediately along with a couple of pals, in late summer 1914. He would have been 16 then so I think he lied about his age. He had only recently met Charlotte, called Lottie, who was to become his wife in 1921 and was from a miserable home background, she had moved into a room in a friends house in Bourneville to have a better quality of life, and that was how she met Ernie. Her friend was "walking out" with his friend! The girls must have been devastated to learn that the boys were signed up for war in France... Or maybe they were proud.
Ernie trained to ride a horse and is pictured in his uniform with riding crop and spurs in a photo inscribed "with love to mother and all" just before they were shipped in early 1915. He was one of 8 siblings and his father had read quite young so mother meant the world to him.
Ernie rode the gun carriages and pulled the ammo up to the front. It must have been a shock to the boy from a leafy working class suburb of a Midland's city. He used to tell me he could speak some French after being there... Which consisted of the song Hinkey Dinkey Parlez Vous? And the phrase San fairy Ann (ca me fait rien) ... " no worries // That doesn't matter" I became a French teacher so always smile when I remember that!!
Anyway, Ernie was thrown from his horse at St Quentin and semi conscious, wounded very badly. He had lost an eye. Amazingly he must have been rescued from the shell crater and stretchered off behind the lines, as my Nan told she had a telegram saying he was recuperating I think it was in Norfolk.
He was re- enrolled months later they were so desperate, but somehow made it home to Lottie in the end. His mother had to hose him down in the yard and cut him out of his uniform it was so filthy. All his life he had a lump on his forehead where the shrapnel was lodged. I remember him letting me touch it and telling me the tale. He would sing "the happy wanderer" and taught me to whistle the tune. Never sad, always busy, he embraced life back home, planting a lovely garden where he grew all his own vegetables, and founding a local football club, Selly Oak FC.
He adored my Dad, his only child, and insisted he learn piano. The house was always full of music and Grandpa had a fine voice. He loved Christmas! He was a heavy smoker, Park Drive or Capstan ever at his side. He was employed at the Aerial motor cycle factory until it closed in the 1930s( now the site of Birmingham University halls of residence) never allowed to drive a car, he wore either an eye patch or a glass eye in the empty socket and had a motorbike and side car! What a character, what a life.
I am so grateful he made it back from the trenches, I found his pink metal registration card in the records at Kew. Ernie passed away in 1966 aged 68. My eldest son looks just like him if you pop a cap on his head it is Ernie in the 1915 photo. When I read any novel set in WW 1 it makes me reflect on what he went through and shed a tear or two, I only regret he didn't live a bit longer so I could have asked him more... And finally taught him some French!
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.
Dvr. Francis Joseph Parkes
British Army 108th Brigade Royal Field Artillery
from:Ewhurst, Surrey
Frank Parkes, 178141, Royal Field Artillery was bornin Ewhurst in 1897. Son of Alfred & Alice Parkes. He was a member of Ewhurst Scout Troop 1912 and was working as a gardener when he was called up & enlisted, aged 19, at No 4 RFA Depot, Woolwich on 13/10/1916. His address was Farthingham, Ewhurst, Surrey. Frank was posted to France with the BEF on 01/09/1917 and joined 108th Brigade RFA on 27/10/1917, then transferred to 'B' Battery, 291st Brigade RFA, 58th (London) Division on 14/06/1918, before returning to 108th Bde on 09/03/1919 to serve in Germany as of 14/04/1919. He went on to serve with 'A' Battery, 74th Bde (14/04/1919) and 'A' Battery, 51st Bde RFA (07/11/1919) before he returned to the UK on 19/02/1920 and transferred to Z Class Reserve on 20/02/1920 for demobilisation. (source Service Records Online & Medal Record Card) These were Howitzer Brigades.
Pte. Herbert Leslie Parkes
Australian Imperial Force 17th Btn.
(d.3rd Oct 1918)
Herbert Parkes was killed in action on the 3rd of October 1918, aged 19 and buried in the Bellicourt British Cemetery in France. He was the brother of Amelia Parkes
L/Cpl. William Parkes
British Army 2/5th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers
from:Radcliffe, Bury
(d.20th Sep 1917)
William Parkes was my G-Great uncle born in Darcy Lever in 1878, son of John Wood Parkes and Mary Jane Stott. He was married to Ellen Watson who died of the Spanish Flu virus in 1915. In 1917 William was killed in action, leaving one son, who was bought up by his mother. That same year William's brother Squire also died of his wounds. Apparently his mother never accepted that both her sons had been killed in the war. Unfortunately, I have no photographs of William, nor have I any stories to tell, funny or otherwise. But he is my uncle and I want him to be remembered. His name is on the Tyne Cot Memorial.
Pte. William Charles Parkes
British Army 2nd Btn Coldstream Guards
from:Tipton, Staffordshire
(d.7th May 1918)
My Grandfather, Private William Charles Parkes of the Coldstream Guards, 2nd Battalion was killed on May 7th and buried on his birthday, May 9th 1918.
The letter that his parents received said: "Dear Mrs Parkes, I am exceedingly sorry to tell you that the news about your son is true, and that he was killed on May 7th. I have already written to his wife, and you may have heard from her since. I assure you that you have my sincerest sympathy in the loss of so good a son. His burial took place on May 9th in the British Military Cemetery and a cross erected at the head of his grave. I trust that it may be some consolation to you to feel that he died a noble death as a soldier for his country. In true sympathy, yours sincerely, L.N. Hodges (Chaplain)"
His son, my Father, William Parkes, was born in September 1916 but we do not know if he got leave to come home - so we do not know if he ever saw him. Sadly, my Grandmother died of the Spanish Flu in November 1918 so my father was an orphan. As the house was bombed during WW2, my Father had nothing of his father's until we realized that one of the medals we had belonged to him. Through the record from the Coldstream Guards and the War Graves Commission, we were able to locate the grave in Bienvillers British Cemetery, France. The trip to France to take my Father to visit his Dad's grave was very. emotional. It was the first time he allowed himself to grieve.
Pte. William Isaiah Parkes
British Army 10th Btn. Worcestershire Regiment
from:54 Chapel Street, Pensnett, Staffordshire
(d.6th October 1917)
My Uncle, Billy Parkes joined the Royal Worcestershire Regiment as part of Kitcheners New Army. He was initially given the number of 4329 - this was subsequentely changed to 201838.
After taking part in various assaults - this culminated in the 3rd Battle of Ypres - known as Pashendaele - which began on 31st July 1917 for a period of 3 months. Consistent rain and mud together with the constant bombardment of warfare created 'Hell on Earth'. This culminated in my Uncle being involved in the Battle of Broodseinde and he was wounded on the opening day of this battle - 4th October 1917 - he was taken to a field hospital where he sadly died two days later on the 6th October 1917.
After doing some research I could find no trace of his memory within the family other than his name on Memorial Plaques in St. Marks Church, Pensnett, Staffordshire, so I contacted the Royal Worcestershire Regiment - which are now re-named the Mercian Regiment, at Imjin Barracks, Gloucester, and they kindly sent me details they had on the 10th Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment to which he belonged. They also confirmed his date of death and gave me his Commonwealth War Grave details - he is buried at Outtersteene Communal Cemetary Extension, France and was 22 years old when he died.
They also disclosed that his two Medals were sent out to his home address in March 1922 but were returned, they suggested probably because his mother had either died or had moved. However, I have discovered that neither was the case - I can only think that my Grandmother was so bereft and maybe felt that she had sacrificed her first born and eldest son and that the glory attached to the medals was superficial. I never knew my grandparents, both died some years before I was born, and I can only imagine just how devastated they and millions of others must have felt.
My Dad (George Henry Parkes) was 18 years younger than William. Therefore, my Dad would have been 2 years old when he joined up and only 4 years of age when William died therefore my dad would have had no real recollection of his brother and other than what he told me of Williams' name on the Memorial Plaques in Pensnett.
This was all I know, and the rest of the family of that generation have long passed away. I did ask the Mercian, Worcestershire Regiment and MOD if, as a living close relative of William if as his original medals were never claimed by my grandparents, I could claim them now. However, I was told that no further issues of First World War Medals were being made. I was so sorry to be told this as I would have liked William's Medals and details to have been framed and hung on my wall next to my Dad's (his 'baby' brother) who served for 13 years in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment from 1933 until 1946, whose medals include the Burma Star. This sadly cannot now happen.
Pte. William Parkes
British Army 13th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles
from:Killyleagh
Pte. William Parkes
British Army 13th (1st County Down) Btn. Royal Irish Rifles
from:Killeagh, Co Down
William Parkes served with the 13th Royal Irish Rifles and the Machine Gun Corps.
Pte. William Arthur Parkes
British Army South Lancashire Regiment
from:Manchester
Grandad, William Parkes was, according to his daughter, a 'boy soldier' and a 'crack shot'. According to the 1939 census he was recorded as 'incapacitated ex serviceman'. We are not sure if he received his leg wound while on active service, or, as rumoured by family, while training others. In WW2 he did serve in the Home Guard.
Pte. Jabez Parkey
British Army 8th Btn. Gloucestershire Regiment
(d.10th Jul 1917)
Pte. Arthur Clifford Parkin
British Army 2/4th Btn. Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
from:Thornhill Lees, Dewsbury
Arthur Parkin lied about his age to sign up to the 2/4th KOYLI before heading to France and Belgium in 1917 as a machine gunner.
He re-enlisted prior to breakout of the Second World War where he, again, served as a Lewis machine gunner. Part of the British Expeditionary Force, he was deployed into France but was forced back to Dunkirk where he fought the rear guard to hold back the advancing Germans. He was on one of the last boats to leave for England. During this time, his family had received a letter from the War Office informing them he had been killed in action. Although injured and fatigued, lived until 1951 with the rare honour of being a KOYLI who fought in both World wars.
Page 7 of 48
Can you help us to add to our records?
The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them
Did your relative live through the Great War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial?
If so please let us know.
Do you know the location of a Great War "Roll of Honour?"We are very keen to track down these often forgotten documents and obtain photographs and transcriptions of the names recorded so that they will be available for all to remember.
Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice.
Celebrate your own Family History
Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Great War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc.
Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.
The free section of The Wartime Memories Project is run by volunteers.
This website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions.
If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running.
Hosted by:
The Wartime Memories Project Website
is archived for preservation by the British Library
Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV
- All Rights Reserved -We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.
