Name
William John Parish
1894
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
20/05/1915
21
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
2347
Hertfordshire Regiment
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
LE TOURET MEMORIAL
Panel 47.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial,
St Mary's Church Memorial, Hemel Hempstead,
John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills, Apsley,
Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford
Pre War
William John Parish (known as John) was born on 12 July 1894 in Brownhills, Staffordshire, the son and only child of William and Rebecca Parish, and baptised on 10 August. His father had been born in Hemel Hempstead and was working as a Railway Porter for the Midland Railway when John was born. Sadly his mother died in 1896 when he was two years old and she was buried at Hednesford St Peter, Staffordshire on 17 September 1896. He and his father then returned to Hemel Hempstead and on the 1901 Census 6 year old John was living with his 68 year old widowed grandmother Sarah Parish at 57 Chapel Street, Hemel Hempstead, Herts.
His father remarried to Beatrice Gravestock on 4 June 1905 at St Paul's Church, Hemel Hempstead and they lived at 21 Osborne Road, Watford. They later had two sons, one of whom died in infancy and the other, Charles, was 12 years younger than John.
John finished his education on 28 March 1908, having attended Alexandra School in Watford. The family then moved back to Hemel Hempstead, and on the 1911 Census they were living at 21 Church Street, Hemel Hempstead, with John then working as a Book Binder at John Dickinson & Co. at Apsley Mills and his father working as a Bill Poster.
His father later lived at 24, Cotterells, Hemel Hempstead, Herts.
Wartime Service
John had joined the Territorial Army prior to the war and served with the 1st Battalion, Hertfordshire Battalion. In the summer of 1914 he was at the annual Territorial Army summer camp at Ashridge, Berkhamsted. When war was declared on 4 August, the camp ended and the following day the entire Battalion was embodied for war service. They were sent to Bury St Edmunds for training and three months later were sent to France. They sailed on the 'City of Chester' from Southampton and arrived at Le Havre on 6 November 1914.
The Battalion arrived on the front lines on 11 November and took up positions near Hooge. They were involved in the First Battle of Ypres, and winter actions at Cuinchy. The following year they took part in the Battle of Festubert in May 1915, part of the Second Battle of Artois. John was wounded during that battle, on 19 May and died of his wounds the following day, aged 20. He has known grave and his name is commemorated on the Le Touret Memorial, France.
Additional Information
His father received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of £5 10s 3d.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.hemelheroes.com.
