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Henry James Parkhurst MID, Lance Corporal 18/704, The Leeds Pals
Across the bottom of this photo is written ‘Harry Parkhurst, Alice’s husband’. He is in uniform and the Leeds Pals cap badge is clearly visible. Apart from this we have very little to go on. We have a Henry James Parkhurst in our list of Pals. He is the only Parkhurst on the list, and Harry is a common short form of Henry. So I am inclined to believe that the photo is of Henry James. After that it becomes more difficult, and what follows may or may not be correct, but I think it accommodates the few facts we have.
I have so far found nothing about Harry’s early life. He probably lived in Bradford, as it was the Bradford Pals that he initially volunteered for. He was probably also known as Harry, as were most of the English King Henrys. But of his family, parents, possible siblings, there seems to be no record. Henry Parkhurst appears on a 1901 Census for Rawden, age 17, at a school, where he is listed as ‘a useful boy’, born in Kent. But there is no definite evidence that this is the right Henry. There are plenty of other Henry Parkhursts, but virtually all in London or the home counties. But wherever he came from, he volunteered for the Bradford Pals, 18th Battalion, and fairly early in the war, given that his number was 704.
The 16th Battalion (1st Bradford), was formed in September 1914 and the 18th Battalion (2nd Bradford) in January 1915. Thereafter their histories were much the same, and the same as the Leeds Pals. They went to Egypt in December 1915, and to France in March 1916. Harry had made acting Lance Corporal, a promotion later confirmed, but rose no higher. He did get another stripe but it was a wound stripe. On 16th August 1916 he was wounded, and appeared on the casualty list the following day. It may have been as a result of this wounding that he transferred to the Leeds Pals. By this stage in the war casualties were rising alarmingly and replacements became more and more difficult to find. Men returning from hospital were frequently sent to whichever battalion was most in need of replacements, regardless of where they had served before, something that caused a great deal of resentment, particularly among the older regiments, who could see their traditions and regimental histories being lost.
He first joined the Leeds Pals as they were rebuilding the battalion after the slaughter on the 1st July 1916 and he survived the Battle of Arras in May 1917. He then transferred to the newly formed 15/17th Battalion in December 1917 and was joined by many of his comrades from the 2nd Bradford Pals when they transferred to the 15/17th Battalion in February 1918. He also survived the Spring Offensive by the Germans in early 1918 and the allied advance in the autumn of that year.
On 7th April 1919 the London Gazette published notice that Henry Parkhurst had been ‘mentioned in dispatches’ by Sir Douglas Haig. There is no indication of what this was for, which was quite normal with MIDs, but it seems unlikely it was associated with his wounding over two years earlier. The award was shown by a small bronze oak-leaf spray worn on the ribbon of the Victory Medal, or another if this medal had not been awarded. One other thing that had happened, in the previous year, was that Harry got married, to Alice Winifred Hall, in Bradford.
Harry and Alice
Unlike Harry there is some background for Alice. She was born in 1897 and lived in Bradford. Her father had died before the 1901 Census, on which her mother Margaret is listed as a widow. There was also a son Ernest, 1 year old, suggesting that father had only just died. These three, together with two nephews and a niece, were all living with grandmother, Eliza Prince, who was a lodging house keeper at 5 Hanover Square, Bradford. Ten years later Eliza had retired, Margaret had taken over as boarding house keeper, and the family had moved to 50 Hanover Square. When the war began Alice was working as a library assistant, but wanted to do her bit for the war, perhaps as the result of meeting Harry, and decided to join the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps This had been formed on 7th July 1917, to allow women to do many of the jobs such as cookery, mechanical and clerical work, which would thus release men for the fighting. Alice joined on 25th September 1917, and was given the number 4616. She was discharged on 14th May 1919, by which time she was married. But her married life was not to last for long. It seems likely that in 1926 Harry died, but whether from the effects of his wounds or some other cause we don’t know. Two years later Alice remarried, to Herbert N Simpson, who worked for a textile company, and on the 1939 register they were living in Menston.
Harry was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
There is undoubtedly more to the story of Harry, and I am hopeful that someone will be able to provide further information.
Sources:
Ancestry – Census Records, Medal Records
Find My Past – Census Records
Researchers: Peter Taylor and David J Owen
Please Note:
- All opinions and inferences are the researcher’s own.
- Please refer to our Glossary of Terms for further information on the terms and phrases used in this post.