Name
Arthur Baylis Pargeter
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
31/05/1918
28
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
148812
Machine Gun Corps
4th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ETAPLES MILITARY CEMETERY
LXVII. E. 1.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Croxley Green Village Memorial, All Saints' Church Shrine, Croxley Green, Rickmansworth Urban District Memorial
Pre War
Arthur was the son of Albert and Mary Pargeter of Mount Pleasant, Yorke Road, Croxley Green. In 1911 the family lived on Scots Hill and in 1901 in Rickmansworth High Street. Albert was a drayman and Arthur an office boy. They both worked at a brewery. Arthur was born at Wotton Underwood, Bucks, in the second quarter of 1893.
Recorded as enlisting in Watford.
Wartime Service
Arthur Pargeter was Private 148812, 4th Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), formerly 6110, Middlesex Regiment and 47235, Lancashire Fusiliers.
When Arthur first enlisted in the King’s Royal Rifles on 24 January 1915 he gave his address as Vine Cottage, Scots Hill and his age as 21 years and 9 months. He was given the number 9596. However, he was discharged on 26 January after his medical because his chest measurement of 32 ins was deemed inadequate. His height was 5ft 7½ins. Unfortunately, his service records have not survived so it is not known when he enlisted successfully.
Arthur died of wounds in the 25th General Hospital at Camiers near Etaples on 31st May 1918. He may have been wounded at the Battle of Bethune on 18th April 1918. Three men were killed and nine wounded by one shell on their way to work. Arthur’s battalion had only been in France for a short time having previously been in Palestine.
The Army paid Arthur’s father £26 8s 1d including a war gratuity.
Acknowledgments
Malcolm Lennox, Tanya Britton, Brian Thomson, Croxley Green in the First World War Rickmansworth Historical Society 2014
