PARSONS, William James
(Service number 15959)
| First Rank | Rifleman | Last Rank | Rifleman |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 14/10/1895 | Place of Birth | Stansted, Kent, England |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | 6 April 1916 | Age | 20 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | C/o W. H. Tubb, Victoria Street, Timaru | ||
| Occupation | Farm hand | ||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | James PARSONS (father), Stansted, Wrotham, Kent, England; Mr William TUBB, Senr (friend), Victoria Street, Timaru, Canterbury | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | New Zealand Rifle Brigade | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | 6th Reinforcements, 3rd Battalion, G Company | ||
| Date | 26 July 1916 | ||
| Transport | Waitemata or Ulimaroa | ||
| Embarked From | Destination | ||
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | 3rd New Zealand Rifle Brigade | ||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | British War Medal; Victory Medal | ||
Award Circumstances and Date
No information
Prisoner of War Information
| Date of Capture | |
|---|---|
| Where Captured and by Whom | |
| Actions Prior to Capture | |
| PoW Serial Number | |
| PoW Camps | |
| Days Interned | |
| Liberation Date |
Death
| Date | 7 September 1966 | Age | 70 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Budgewoi, New South Wales, Australia | ||
| Cause | Disease - cancer | ||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Point Clare General Cemetery, Point Clare, New South Wales, Australia | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
William James Parsons was the son of James and Edith Martine (née Dunmall) Parsons, of Wrotham, Kent, England. William was at home with his family at Ash, Kent in 1901 and at Stanstead, Kent, England. In 1911 he was working on his father’s farm. Rifleman W. J. Parsons returned to New Zealand per the “Ruahine”, embarking on 4 January 1918 and arriving on 5 April. He resumed his work in farming. William Parsons married Gladys Mary Cross in 1921. They lived for a time at Hunter, and in the 1930s William was in Timaru and Christchurch. Gladys died in 1941 and was buried with her parents in the Timaru Cemetery. It is said that William returned to England after her death, married again and migrated to Australia in 1961. Parsons died on 7 September 1966 at Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [12 December 2016]; 1901, 1911 census returns England (ancestry.com.au) [24 March 2020; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [22 March 2020]
External Links
Related Documents
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Researched and Written by
Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG
Currently Assigned to
Not assigned.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.
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