Stockwell War Memorial

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Charles Frederick Parker

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Charles Frederick Parker
Charles Frederick Parker © Ray Coleman

C. F. Parker
Service no. 142427
Private, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), 34th Coy.
Killed in action 21 March 1918, aged 34
Remembered at Arras Memorial, France

Charles Frederick Parker was born on 23 November 1884 at 95 Dunnetts Road, St Pauls, Deptford (later, on various censuses his birthplace is given as Peckham and Deptford). He was one of 10 children born to William James Parker, an engineer originally from Liverpool, and Elizabeth Emma Rutt from Southwark, south London.

William and Elizabeth married on 21 October 1871 at Christ Church, Blackfriars. In common with many families at the time, they moved frequently, probably following work around London.

We can trace their movements from the censuses: In 1881 they lived at 13 Upper Winchester Street in Islington; in 1891 they were at 115 Bridge Street, Greenwich; in 1901 they were at 31 Foreign Street, Camberwell and by 1911, aged 68 and 59, they were in Southend on Sea, living with two of their three surviving children.

On October 15 1905 William and Elizabeth’s son Charles, aged 20, and Daisy Laura Hales, 21, married at Christ Church, Blackfriars (the church where William and Elizabeth had married). Daisy’s address was given on the marriage certificate as 32 Collingwood Street (now Columbo Street)* and Charles was living at 48 Brunswick Street (off Stamford Street). Daisy was born in Highgate, the daughter of a journeyman baker, James Hales.

However, in 1901, according to the census, Daisy was living at 2 Redan Terrace, near Elam Street, on the Camberwell/Brixton borders*. Elam Road is adjacent to Foreign Street, where Charles Frederick Parker was living. It seems likely that this was when and where Charles and Daisy, who were both 16 in 1901, met. The 1901 census gives Charles’ occupation as “repairer of bicycle tyres”.

Charles Frederick Parker
Charles Frederick Parker © Ray Coleman

The picture of the Parker family was taken on 10 September 1916 and shows Charles in his uniform with Daisy and their two children, Elsie and William (Bill). Eighteen months later, Charles was dead.

The 1911 census shows that Charles and Daisy Parker were living in two rooms on the Blackfriars Peabody Estate (Block Q) with their daughter, Elsie Daisy Parker, then aged 2. Charles was working as an assistant stationary engineerman.

When Charles joined up he was employed by the London Hydraulic Company as an engineer. Before electricity became the primary source of power, heavy lifting was carried out using high pressure water piped underground. Probably its most famous application was to lift the bascules of Tower Bridge.

Charles enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery (Service no 2578) in Brixton before transferring to the 34th Company Machine Gun Corp (Infantry) as number 142427.

This faded picture, taken on 4 February 1917, shows Charles recovering from trench foot at The Cardiff Soldiers’ Rest, St Mary Street, Cardiff. Trench foot is caused by continuous immersion in water. If untreated, trench foot could turn gangrenous and result in amputation. The water table was often less than one metre below the surface and digging in, to avoid shells and bullets, often meant living in mud. Despite this, British commanding officers, unlike their German counterparts, refused to give up any ground, however unsuitable.

Charles Frederick Parker
Charles Frederick Parker in hospital

‘Operation Michael’, the momentous German counter-offensive known as the ‘Kaiser’s Battle’ (and sometimes as the Second Battle of the Somme, since to some extent it took place on the same territory), was launched along a 50-mile front at dawn on 21 March 1918, following a massive preliminary bombardment. The Germans broke the British lines in several places and the 34th Machine Gun Corps found itself virtually surrounded.

Charles Frederick Parker died that day. Unfortunately, his grave was among those which the Army Graves Service was unable to trace after the war and he is therefore commemorated on Bay 10 of the Arras Memorial, France.

Postcardsfront
© Ray Coleman
Postcardsback
© Ray Coleman

While away at the Front, Charles sent these beautiful postcards to his family. They are a poignant reminder of the contrast of worlds between the War and home life. While Charles was no doubt faced with unspeakable horrors he found time to send back these sweet and special greetings to his wife and young family.

Elsie points to her father's listing in the Book of Remembrance at Arras Memorial in France
Elsie points to her father’s listing in the Book of Remembrance at Arras Memorial in France © Ray Coleman
David at Stockwell War Memorial
David at Stockwell War Memorial © Ray Coleman

The families left behind

Charles’s daughter Elsie, who was married in St Andrew’s Church, Landor Road, London SW9, visited Arras with two of her grandchildren.

Many thanks to Ray Coleman for family information and use of material.
All family assets relating to Charles Parker are copyright Ray Coleman. All rights reserved.

* Collingwood Street was next to Christ Church, Blackfriars (behind the railings in the picture on the left), but has now been replaced by Columbo Street. The cottages have been replaced by a pub (the brick building in the engraving) and a sports centre. Elam Street survives but most of the surrounding streets do not, the area having been extensively redeveloped after World War II.

Many thanks to Ray Coleman for family information and use of material.
All family assets relating to Charles Parker are © Ray Coleman. All rights reserved.

Henry Thomas Payn Pardue

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H. Pardue
Service no. 473280
Serjeant, London Regiment (The Rangers), 1st/12th Battalion, formerly 6526, 16th London Regiment
Enlisted in London; lived in Brixton
Killed in action at about age 33 on 10 May 1917
Remembered at Arras Memorial, France

Information from the censuses

Henry Pardue’s story illustrates neatly the dispersal of a family after the death of a mother and the remarriage of a father. In 1911, Henry Thomas Payne Pardue, 27, was living with his aunt Annie Warren, 39, his sister Gladys (a dancer) and Annie’s four children at 85 Shakespeare Road, Stoke Newington. His siblings were scattered across the country: Charles John Pardue, 36, was a law writer in Newcastle-upon-Tyne; William Pardue, 24, was a private in the Royal Marines at East Stonehouse, Devon. Henry’s married sisters are not traceable through the census. Henry’s father, Charles John Pardue, 63, meanwhile, had started another family. He had at least 14 children from his marriages. In 1911 he was working as a stationer’s clerk and was married to Emma Matilda Pardue, 43; they had four children lived at 79 Corporation Street, West Ham.

Information from the 1901 census

Henry Pardue was born in 1884 in Clerkenwell. In 1901 he was a 17-year-old litho apprentice living at 2 York Mansions, Newington, with his family. His father, Charles J. Pardue, born in 1848 in Westminster, was by 1901 a widowed lawyer’s clerk. His deceased wife, Annie Eliza Pardue, was a year younger.
The 10 children I can find on the various censuses are:
Elizabeth Caroline Pardue, born 1870 in Westminster, described as a dancer on the 1901 census
Annie Eliza Pardue, born 1872 in Westminster, described as a dancer on the 1901 census
Alice Jane Pardue, born in 1873 in Camberwell
Charles John Payn Pardue, born 1875 in St Bride’s (Fleet Street)
Marion Rose Pardue, born in 1878 in St Bride’s (Fleet Street)
Emily Maud Pardue, born 1880 in Camberwell
Henry Thomas Payn Pardue, born in 1884 in Clerkenwell
William F. O. Pardue, born in 1887 in Clerkenwell, and working as a messenger aged 14 in 1901
Gwendoline Pardue, born in 1893 in St Pancras
Gladys Pardue, born in 1897 in Newington
In 1881 the family were living at 36 Leather Lane, Saffron Hill, Hatton Garden Ely Rents and Ely Place. I can find no trace of the family in the 1891 census.

Eli John Palmer

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E. J. Palmer
Private, Devonshire Regiment, 9th Battalion
Died 30 September 1915, aged about 20
Remembered on the Loos Memorial, France

This identification was made by Chris Burge, who writes:

Eli John Palmer was born in 1895, the sole child of parents Eli John and Julia Susan Palmer. Eli’s mother was 45 at the time of his birth and had several children from a previous marriage before she was widowed. Eli grew up with his older half-siblings, living at 55 Lambeth Road.

By the time of the 1911 census, Eli’s mother had been widowed for second time when Eli’s father died in 1910. Julia Susan Palmer was now sixty years old and no longer working. Two of her sons from her previous marriage still lived with her, Albert and Francis Hewett. Young Eli worked as an errand boy for a hosier’s. The four adults shared just three rooms at 3 DeLaune Street, Kennington.

Perhaps spurred by the heady mix of patriotism and a sense of adventure, Eli John Palmer volunteered in London early in the war and joined the 9/Devons in 1914. This ‘New Army’ battalion was finally ready to move to France on 27 July 1915. After a few weeks of trench holding, the 9/Devons were at the first day of the Battle of Loos on 25 September 1915, facing a hail of fire when assaulting the enemy lines. During the bitter fighting, the 9/Devons were ‘stood to’ in the front line trench from 6.30pm on the 29 September to 2.30am on the 30th, under intermittent shelling. Eli John Palmer was killed on this day. Over a few days, the battalion’s total casualties were 15 officers and 461 men, close to 50 per cent of its strength.

Eli had nominated his mother Julia as his next of kin and sole legatee. She would receive his £3 10s war gratuity and a small pension at the war’s end. Julia lived at 16 Prideaux Road SW9, near Clapham North, from 1919 until she passed away in 1924, aged 76.

Charles John Painter

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C. J. Painter
Service no. 281508
Serjeant, London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), 2nd/4th Battalion
Enlisted at Shaftesbury Street; lived in Stockwell
Killed in action on 15 May 1917
Remembered at Arras Memorial, France

Information from the Watsham family

Charles John PAINTER was the husband of Gertrude Annie WATSHAM. Their marriage was registered in the March quarter 1915, and the birth of their (only child) daughter Joan PAINTER was registered in the June quarter of 1916. Gertrude Annie married a Harold F. NOBLE in 1924. They had no children. Gertrude died in 1973.

John Packer

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J. Packer
Service no. G/17678
Private, Royal Fusiliers, 4th Battalion
Killed in action age 28 on 26 March 1918
Born in Battersea; enlisted in Southwark; lived in Wandsworth
CWGC: “Son of the late Joseph and Mary Ann Packer; husband of Lily Cecilia Packer, of 2 Heyford Terrace, South Lambeth Road, London.”
Remembered at Arras Memorial, France

Information from the 1911 census

John Packer, 21 in 1911, was a carman. He was born in Battersea and lived with his widowed father, Joseph Packer, 59, a grocer from Chelsea, brother George Packer, 18, a clerk, and sister Elizabeth Packer, 29, who kept house for the family. Joseph Packer and his deceased wife Mary Ann had had 11 children, of whom eight survived. The Packers occupied 5 rooms at 4 Currie Street, Battersea.

John Packer married Lily Cecilia Baker on Christmas Day 1914 at All Saints Church, South Lambeth. John Packer’s father had died by then.

Charles William Pace

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C. W. Pace
Service no. 722461
Private, London Regiment, 1st/24th Battalion
Enlisted in Lambeth; lived in Lambeth
Killed in action on 15 September 1916, aged 28
Remembered at Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France

British Army WWI Service Records 1914-1920

The records for Charles William Pace in the main show nothing very remarkable. He was 26, lived at 55 Dawlish Street and was working as an outdoor porter before he signed up at Camberwell on 4 March 1916.  He stood 5 feet 1 inch tall, with a 33½ inch chest, which he could expand by 2½ inches. He gave his mother Sarah as next of kin, but this was later amended to his new wife, Florence, of 21 Seaham Street. William married Florence Meredith at St Barnabas, South Lambeth on 23 July 1916.

One item does stand out – a letter from ‘per pro’ Mrs. Pace (Pace’s mother as the address given is Dawlish Street), in which, on 18 October 1916, over a month after Pace had died, she pleads, “I have received no letter or tidings from him for some time now … If he has been wounded or fallen sick and has been removed to hospital would you please endeavour to trace him through your Records.” Clearly, for his mother, the possibility that Pace is dead was too dreadful to admit in a letter.

Pace’s record for the 15 September 1916 merely states “missing after action”. He was probably absorbed into the mud of France, lost without trace. He had served 280 days.

Information from the 1911 census

Charles William Pace, 21, was a tea packer, born in Walworth. He, and his elder brother James Stephen Pace, 24, a window cleaner, also born in Walworth, lived with their widowed mother, Sarah Ann Pace, 56, who was from Bermondsey, at 14 Gladstone Street, Stockwell (now gone), where they had two rooms. Sarah had nine children, seven of whom survived to 1911.