Parkes, Frederick (Fred)
Rifleman
No. 18588, 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles
Killed in action on Monday 14 October 1918 (aged 27)
Buried:
Dadizeele New British Cemetery, Belgium (Grave II. B. 14)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Newtownards and District War Memorial
First Newtownards Presbyterian Church
BIOGRAPHY
The birth of Frederick Parkes was registered in the first quarter of 1891 in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, and he was a son of James Parkes, a gas stoker, and Maria Parkes (formerly Woodward, nee Hems).
Henry Woodward, an optician, and Maria Hems were married on 18 November 1867 in St Martin’s Parish of England Church, Birmingham, Warwickshire, and they had at least three children:
William (born around 1869 in Handsworth Staffordshire)
George (born around 1870 in Handsworth Staffordshire)
Lizzie (born around 1874 in Handsworth Staffordshire)
After their father died in June 1875, their mother, Maria Woodward, married James Parkes in 1877 in West Bromwich, Staffordshire.
James and Maria Parkes (formerly Woodward, nee Hems) had at least ten children:
Charlotte Emma (born 26 September 1877, baptised 8 July 1878 in Handsworth Methodist Chapel Stafford, married James Johnston 9 June 1895 in St George’s Parish Church of England Church, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire)
Rosanna (born around 1879 in Handsworth Staffordshire)
James (born around 1879 in Handsworth Staffordshire)
Elijah (born around 1881 in Handsworth Staffordshire)
Joseph (born around 1883 in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire)
Albert (born around 1885 in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire)
John (born around 1886 in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire)
Arthur (born around 1887 in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire)
Lilly (born around 1889 in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire)
Frederick (born around 1891 in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire)
The death of their mother, Maria Parkes on 2 August 1898 (aged 49) was reported in the 6 August 1898 edition of the Staffordshire Sentinel.
The 1891 Census shows the Parkes family living at 20 Garden Street, Newcastle-under-Lyme. Stepchildren present were William (22), George (21) and Elizabeth Georgina Woodward. Children were Charlotte Emma (13), Rosanna (12), James (12), Elijah (10), Joseph (8), Albert (6), John (5), Arthur (4), Lilly (2) and Fred (3 months).
By 1901 the Parkes children were living with their stepsister Elizabeth Woodward at 35 Garden Street.
Fred moved to Newtownards and, prior to the outbreak of the Great War, he worked as a motor driver for the Ards Transport Company.
Fred and his wife Elizabeth (nee Dalzell) lived at 46 Little Francis Street, Newtownards. Elizabeth was a daughter of James Dalzell, a baker. They were married on 3 June 1914 in Helen’s Bay Presbyterian Church and they had two children:
Freda Cambrai (born 20 November 1917)
Elizabeth (Isabella) McCutcheon (born 6 December 1918, two months after her father was killed)
Both girls were baptised in First Newtownards Presbyterian Church.
Fred Parkes enlisted in Belfast, served as a Rifleman with the 1st Battalion Royal Irish Rifles and was entitled to wear a wound stripe after sustaining a gunshot wound to his left leg on 3 July 1916 in France. He was taken by hospital ship to Egypt.
Rifleman Fred Parkes was killed in action at Gulleghem on 14 October 1918. He was buried in Dadizeele New British Cemetery, Belgium and there is a personal inscription on his CWGC headstone:
SOMETIME WE’LL UNDERSTAND
After Fred died his widow placed a For King and Country notice in the 16 November 1918 edition of the Newtownards Chronicle.
Rifleman Fred Parkes is commemorated on Newtownards and District War Memorial and in First Newtownards Presbyterian Church.
His brother Elijah Parkes served as a Bombardier with the Royal Field Artillery (No. 63195).