Profile

PARRIS, Harry
(Service number 18112)

Aliases
First Rank Private Last Rank

Birth

Date 20 November 1878 Place of Birth Brighton, Sussex, England

Enlistment Information

Date Age
Address at Enlistment P.O. Timaru
Occupation Cook & baker
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin Mr L. PARRIS (father), 9 Stanley Street, Brighton, England. Mr DREW (friend), City Boarding House, Timaru
Religion Church of England
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation
Unit, Squadron, or Ship
Date
Transport
Embarked From Destination
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals
Military Awards

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

Discharge

Date Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Cook

Death

Date 5 January 1920 Age 41 years
Place of Death Christchurch
Cause Heart failure, due to chronic nephritis
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Sydenham Cemetery, Christchurch
Memorial Reference Block 51, Plot 27
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Harry Parris was born on 20 November 1878 (it appears) at Brighton, Sussex, England, the oldest child and probably the only son of Luke and Amy (née Parrott) Parris. He was baptised on 5 January 1879 at St Peter’s, Brighton. He had two younger sisters. In 1881 and 1891 Harry was at home at Brighton with his parents. In 1901 he may have been a stenographer boarding at Southampton.

Harry Parris, a cook at Murchison, was listed on the Reserve Rolls, but when he enlisted he was a cook and baker at Levels, Timaru. In 1910, when he was a cook at Werry’s Hotel, Timaru, his watch was stolen. On 5 April 1916, the South Canterbury quota for the 15th Reinforcements left by the express for the military camps, the Infantry – including H. Parris, Timaru - proceeding to Trentham. Before departing Timaru, the men were entertained by the Ladies’ Patriotic Committee at luncheon in the Stafford Tea Rooms. Falling in at the Drill Shed at 3pm, they were addressed by the Mayor, Mr Craigie, M.P., and the Rev. Dean Tubman. The 2nd South Canterbury Regimental Band was in attendance, and the High School Cadets and the Honorary Territorials formed a cordon at the railway station.

At Trentham in May 1916, Parris was in Hut 123 with five Waimate boys and a few others from South Canterbury – ‘We now come to Parris, who came off a mill, Who had the misfortune of feeling ill; So the doctor thought he must give him a pill; If this doesn’t cure, him the d--d stew will.’ [Waimate Daily Advertiser, 12 May 1916.]

Harry Parris died on 5 January 1920 at Christchurch. He was found dead in bed at the hut where he was living. The cause of death was heart failure, due to chronic nephritis. He was buried at Sydenham Cemetery.

Sources

Baptism record (ancestry.com.au) [11 August 2020]; 1881, 1891, 1901 England census returns (ancestry.com.au) [11 August 2020]; Sydenham Cemetery burial record (Christchurch City Council) [12 August 2020]; Timaru Herald, 5 April 1916, Press, 7 January 1920 (Papers Past) [03 & 11 August 2020]

External Links

Related Documents

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Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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