Name
Charles Frederick Parker
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
03/09/1916
28
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Serjeant
16968
Bedfordshire Regiment
“B” Company. 1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
DIVE COPSE BRITISH CEMETERY, SAILLY-LE-SEC
II.H.19
France
UK & Other Memorials
Aston War Memorial
St. Mary’s Church Roll of Honour, Aston
Pre War
Charles was the son of David & Sarah Parker of Frogmore Cottages, Watton At Stone. Before he joined the Army he was employed as a General Agricultural Labourer on local farms, a job he had been doing since he was 13 years?old.
Wartime Service
He arrived in France with the Bedfordshire Regiment on the 22nd December 1914 and served continuously on the Western Front. On the evening of 2nd September 1916, the Battalion were positioned in Silesia Trench near the village of Maricourt in the Somme sector of the Western Front when a German artillery shell burst on the parapet of the trench. An officer stated that they shell was not of any type they had seen before in that it formed no crater and burned with a reddish light. Nine men of “B” Company were wounded by the resulting explosion including Charles Parker. Although evacuated to a Casualty Clearing Station he died the following day, as a result of his injuries. He is buried in the Dive Copse British Cemetery, Somme, France.
Additional Information
www.stevenageatwar.com
Acknowledgments
Paul Johnson
