396749 Pte Abel Parfitt, Labour Corps

396749 Private Abel Parfitt of the 49th Company, The Labour Corps, was killed in action on the 25th May 1918. He died when a shell exploded in the village where he happened to be, causing heavy casualties. Ironically, he had not been feeling well that day, had reported sick and, along with a party of other men, was on his way to see the doctor when the shell dropped.

Abel Parfitt had previously served with the 3rd Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers (number 61539). According to Soldiers Died in The Great War he was born in Abram, Lincolnshire, was living at Woodlesford, Leeds, and enlisted at Leeds.

Abel was 37 years old, the son of Abel and Elizabeth Parfitt, and the husband of Nan Parfitt of 3 Springside, Todmorden, Lancashire. The Commonwealth war Graves Commission records that he was born at Wigan. He is buried in Querrieu British Cemetery in France.

Abel's partial service record survives at the National Archives in London. He attested on the 15th February 1916 but it wasn't until the 27th April 1917 that he was called up. He gave his address at attestation as 4 Back Eshald Place, Woodlesford although he appears to have moved subsequently as a second address - 13 Victoria Street, Featherstone - has been over-written. He was aged 33 years and 10 months at attestation, a coal miner by trade. He was posted to the 3rd Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers.

Hannah Jane Shaw is recorded as Abel's next of kin, her relationship to him noted as "paramour". There is a marriage date noted however- 22nd February 1908 - although their two children are recorded as William Henry Shaw (born 5th May 1909) and John Shaw (born 5th April 1911). Both children were born at Ashton-under-Line.

A note by Hannah Shaw to CSM Dakin of the 49th Company, written after Abel Parfitt was killed, reads, "Please note that the c/o has addressed me as Mrs Parfitt, as I was known to everyone as the wife of Pte A Parfitt..."

Having arrived in France with the RWF on the 9th August 1917, Abel was transferred to the 35th Company Labour Corps (15th October 1917) and later, still in France, posted to the 49th Company. By this stage he had already been hospitalised in France (in January 1918) with PUO: Pyrexia of Unknown Origin, the medical term generally used to describe trench fever.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry (MIC, WO 363)
Soldiers Died in The Great War
Army Service Numbers
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission

73903 Pte William John Tanner Burrows, Labour Corps

One hundred British soldiers died on this single day in 1918. 73903 Private William John Tanner Burrows of the Labour Corps was one of those men. He died of nephritis on the 21st January 1918 and is buried in Dozinghem Military Cemetery.

William was born in Buckingham and enlisted at Hitchin in Hertfordshire. He originally joined The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regt) on the 26th February 1917 and went to France almost immediately. His surviving papers note that he was in England for just twelve days before he sailed for France. William was 32 years old when he joined up; a married man with three young children aged four, three and one. His occupation is noted as packer and warehouseman and he was medically classified as C2.

William was given the number 47268 and was sent to a labour battalion before transferring to the 124th Company, Labour Corps in May 1917. His papers indicate that he was granted leave between the 23rd December 1917 and the 6th January 1918 and presumably he returned to England to see his wife and children. Little would they realise of course, that it would be their last Christmas and New Year together and that just over a fortnight after he left them, he would die in a Belgian hospital.

Three months after his death, May Burrows received her husband's effects. These are itemised as: disc, wallet, letters, razor, scissors, photos, strop, cap badge, lock of hair, three religious books, purse, and a defaced 50 cent note.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (MIC, WO 363)
Army Ancestry
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in The Great War