No.12166, Private, Herbert PARR
Aged 19
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Herbert Parr was born in Burwell in 1897 (Newmarket Q3-1897 3B:516), son of Albert and Amelia PARR (née ROLLITT).
1901 census...Aged 3, he was at North Street, Burwell with his widowed mother Amelia PARR [44] a laundress, born Saltfleet, Lincolnshire and his brothers Urban [11], Albert [9] and Charlie [7]. All the children were born in Burwell. His father Albert had died in Burwell in April 1898, aged 54. 1911 census...Aged 13, a farm labourer, he was at Bedlam Square, Burwell with his mother and brother Charles (farm labourer). His eldest brother, Urban, had emigrated to Australia. His eldest brother, Urban, served in the Australian Army (as William BARRY) and was killed in Belgium in October 1917 see here |
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He enlisted in Newmarket.
The third day of the Somme, the 7th Suffolks took part in a frontal attack at Ovillers (a few miles east of Albert). Zero hour was 03:15 am but the battalion attacked in 8 successive waves starting ten minutes earlier. They got as far as the enemies third line, some even getting into the village. Then communications were lost and the Germans managed to cut them off. Stiff resistance led the attack being brought to a standstill. All of the Company commanders had been killed. Casualties of all ranks numbered 470 ( close to half of the battalion), of these 157 were killed, 44 buried in Ovillers and 112, with no known grave, named on the Thiepval memorial. At least 6 other local men fell, Frank Aley, Will Barrett and Walter Leonard from Newmarket, and Edward Dicker, Ernest Hobbs and William Pitches from Exning. LETTER FROM THE FRONT..published at the time, a letter home from Herbert:- We went up into the trenches on the 11th for 24 hours, It was very quiet where I was. The trenches were only 150 yards or so apart so there were no shells. I had to go out wiring, I can tell you I did not feel very brave when I got over the parapet, but we were safe enough and all the shots went high.I found it a lot different from what I expected. There were boards in the dug-outs and it was almost impossible to get shot unless we were silly and stuck our heads up. I was at a snipers hole for an hour and a half and I fired three shots but they soon found and put a shot into it, it hit the iron plate, or else yours truly would not be writing this letter. We only had one casualty. Sometimes we see an aeroplane being bombarded. We can see the flash of the shell as it explodes and the puff of smoke, but it is sometimes half a minute before we hear the report. When we were in the trenches one of our planes came reconnoitering and the Germans started shelling it, the pieces of shell dropping in our trenches. Suddenly the plane started swooping or swerving as though it were hit, but he was only playing with them for he did not get down far before he shot over their lines so they could not fire without doing damage to their own men.There are fine fellows in the Royal Flying Corps. We are not allowed to put our address at the beginning of our letter, so if you want to write put the address 12166 H Parr MG.Co 7th Suffolk Regt, 12th Division B.E.F., France. Yours sincerely H.Parr P.S. I can ask for almost anything in French now.
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