Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Walter James Parfoot was the eldest son of Henry Walter and Caroline (née Pullinger) Parfoot. He was born on 14 November 1897 at Timaru. Henry and Caroline, who both hailed from England, had married in 1893 in New Zealand. Caroline Parfoot died suddenly at her Timaru home on 6 July 1911. She was buried at Timaru Cemetery, where Henry joined her in 1947. Walter joined his older sister Jessie at Timaru Main School, where they were joined by younger sister Lucy and younger brother Henry. In 1908 they transferred to Waimataitai School; there the youngest of the family, Ernest, joined them in 1910.

In 1910, W. J. Parfoot was proposed to hold an officer position in the Juvenile Lodge, A.O.F. and in September he was duly elected. The next month he was awarded first prize in the competition “for bringing the most members for the ensuing year”. By 1911 he was presiding over the lodge meetings. In May 1912 he was elected to the social committee. His father had long been a lodge member. Walter J. Parfoot passed the examination for the Men’s First Aid Class conducted by the St John Ambulance Association in September 1915. The next September he received a certificate for First Aid. Private Parfoot was also in the champion squad which received the Rosebowl for first aid and stretcher drill. Walter was in one of the teams (possibly his employer’s team) which had to shoot off in January 1917 after they had tied in the Miniature Rifle Carnival Shooting Gallery competition for the shield and medals, his team coming out the winners. He continued to do well in the Timaru Club’s Miniature Rifles competitions.

Walter James Parfoot was medically examined at Timaru on 28 November 1917 and enlisted that same day. He stood at 5 feet 8½ inches, weighed 170 pounds, and had a chest measurement of 34-39 inches. His complexion was fair, his eyes brown, and his hair light brown. His sight, hearing, colour vision, heart and lungs were all normal, his limbs and chest well formed. Free from diseases, vaccinated, with notification for consumption, and never under treatment in a sanatorium or mental institution, he was in good bodily and mental health. He had been absent from work, having six weeks off 18 months ago with influenza. He was still serving with No. 6 Mounted Field Rifles. A wheelwright for Ferguson & Coy, Timaru, residing at home, single and of Congregational affiliation, he named his father as next-of-kin – H. W. Parfoot, 31 Jackson Street, Timaru.

W. J. Parfoot was in quite a large draft of men who went into camp at the beginning of March 1918 as South Canterbury’s quota for the 39th Reinforcements. Before leaving the men were given a brief farewell at the Drill Shed. Posted initially to Trentham, he was attached to the Medical Corps at Awapuni on 17 April 1918, then transferred to Featherston on 15 June 1918, back to Awapuni on 13 July, again to Featherston on 7 August, and yet again to Awapuni on 11 September. Private W. J. Parfoot embarked with the Medical Corps of the 43rd Reinforcements, leaving from Wellington on 2 October 1918 per the “Matatua”. In November 1918 he had to pay sixpence for a deficiency in his kit. Disembarking at London, England on 5 December, he marched in to Sling and was posted to the No. 1 New Zealand General Hospital at Brockenhurst a few days later. On 11 March 1919, he was taken on strength at the 2nd New Zealand General Hospital. The Tainui, which was expected to arrive in Wellington on 21 September 1919, brought home Private W. J. Parfoot, of Timaru. He had embarked at Plymouth on 8 August 1919. He was discharged on 21 October 1919, on the termination of his period of engagement and awarded the British War Medal, all his service having been in England.

Back home, Walter kept up his competition in the Miniature Rifles. He was employed as a coachbuilder. He married Annie Velvin Smith in 1921. The first of their three daughters, Rona Velvin Parfoot was born on 27 January 1922 at their Livingstone Street home. Annie Joyce Parfoot was born on 14 August 1923 and Noeline Mae Parfoot was born 15 years later. On 5 August 1926, when Walter’s sister Lucy May Parfoot married Percy Thomas at the Woodland Street Methodist Church, Timaru, “the guests adjourned to the residence of Mr Walter Parfoot, Livingstone Street, Timaru, where the wedding breakfast was partaken of and the customary toasts honoured.” Walter and annie lived all their married life at Livingstone Street.

In October 1936, W. J. Parfoot was elected a member of the Automobile Association (South Canterbury). Walter James Parfoot (trading as W. J. Parfoot and Co.) was awarded costs only in a civil case at the Magistrate’s Court in March 1941. He was a member of the jury for a Supreme Court case in May 1941. Mrs W. Parfoot was a regular contributor to the Patriotic Fund in the early 1940s. A sine die adjournment was granted to Walter James Parfoot, welder (repairs section), in October 1942 when he appealed his call-up for Home Guard service. He was called up again in December 1942. A motor-body builder of Timaru, he appealed again, and in April 1943, owing to medical grading, his appeal was adjourned sine die. Walter made a donation to the R.S.A. Club rooms in September 1944. A year later he was elected to the committee of the Acclimatisation Society. W. J. Parfoot (Timaru) was elected to the executive of the New Zealand Motor Body Builders’ Industrial Union of Employers at their annual conference in March 1951, a position he held for a few years. From 1956 till 1960, he was an executive member of the Canterbury Motor Body Builders’ Association.

James Pullinger, and uncle of Walter Parfoot and brother of his mother, served in World War One, dying in 1915 of disease contracted at Gallipoli. Another uncle, George William Pullinger, also served in World War One. And a cousin, Charles George Ott, died of wounds in France in 1918. Walter’s brother Henry David Parfoot (Harry) served in World War Two, his next-of-kin being his father, and was wounded. He was awarded the B.E.M. Walter’s youngest brother Ernest Edward Parfoot was called up for service in the Home Guard but appealed and was granted an adjournment. He was a bootmaker and was a stretcher bearer in the Medical Section of the Emergency Precautions Scheme, but he could not afford the extended time required for the Home Guard.

Walter James Parfoot died on 21 October 1982 at Timaru, aged 84 years. He was cremated privately at Salisbury Park Crematorium. He was survived by his wife and his three daughters, and by grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Annie died in March 1986 and was cremated too. Walter bequeathed all motor cars, household effects, jewellery and watches to his wife, as well as the dwellinghouse and land at 9 Livingstone Street. He also made bequests to his three married daughters.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [14 January 2015]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ ref. AABK 18805 W5549 0089943) [23 September 2016]; School Admission records (South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [14 January 2015]; Timaru Herald, 24 February 1910, 29 September 1910, 27 October 1910, 6 July 1911, 9 September 1911, 24 May 1912, 27 September 1915, 15 September 1916, 6 & 10 January 1917, 2 March 1918, 10 May 1920, 28 January 1922, 16 October 1936, 13 March 1941, 7 May 1941, 17 October 1942, 23 December 1942, 9 April 1943, 30 September 1944, 18 September 1945, Sun, 29 August 1919, Press, 10 August 1926, 22 March 1951, 4 April 1952, 22 March 1956, 9 April 1959, 16 March 1960 (Papers Past) [14 January 2015; 10 January 2016; 09 September 2022; 26 February 2024]; Timaru Herald, 22 October 1982 (Timaru District Library) [15 September 2016]; Salisbury Park Crematorium records [24 September 2016]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [26 February 2024]; Probate record (Archives NZ Collections – Record number 492/1982) [26 February 2024]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [26 February 2024]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

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