No. 66401, Private, Frederick PARR
Aged 19
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Frederick Parr was born in Chippenham on 28th March 1899 ( Newmarket Q2-1899 3B:521), baptised in Chippenham on 25th June 1899, the son of William and Ellen
PARR (née THOMPSON).
1901 census...Aged 2, he was at 4 New Row, Chippenham with his father William [30] an agricultural labourer, born Chippenham; his mother Ellen [32] born Mildenhall, and brother Charles [8], Arthur [6] and George [3], all born in Chippenham. 1911 census...Aged 12, he was at New Row, Chippenham with his parents, brothers Charles, Arthur and George ( all farm labourers), and brothers Reginald [9] and Ernest [5] and sisters Alice [5] and Ellen [8 months], all born in Chippenham. |
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He enlisted in Newmarket. The 11th April 1918 was the day that Haig issued his "backs to the wall" message. The Germans had been bombarding the southern end of British line between Armentieres and Festubert for two days and threw eight divisions against a weakly held line. The Portuguese were overrun and withdrew to Estaires. The British 55th Division pulled back its northern brigade and then managed to hold its ground, despite attacks for two German divisions. The 40th Division, to the north of the Portuguese collapsed under the attack and withdrew to the north. April 1918 was the nearest the Allies came to defeat, but it was also the start of the pursuit of the Germans to their eventual surrender. The 11th April was a bad day for the 1/6th Northumberland Fusiliers with 97 men of the battalion killed and 87 of them have no known grave. On 15th June 1918 the Bury Free Press reported that Fred was missing, since about April 20th. |
photo: Rodney Gibson
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