Frederick John Parish

This name is on the St Mark's War Memorial, Kennington Oval, London SE11

F. J. Parish

(Frederick John Parish)

(Parish, Frederick John)

Service no 4374

Private, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry)

Died age 19 on 22 February 1918

Son of Frederick George and Clara Parish, of 37, Bowling Green St., Kennington Oval, London.

Remembered at Lambeth Cemetery, London and at St Mark's Church, London

British Army WWI Army Records 1914-1920 Frederick Parish, an errand boy in civilian life, served in both the Hampshire Regiment and the Machine Gun Corps. He enlisted at Kingsway Recruitment Office, London on 21 May 1915, and served with the British Expeditionary Force between 8 February 1916 and 26 December 1916.On 24 October 1917 he was discharged "in consequence of being no longer physically fit for War service." Parish's discharge papers describe him as 5 feet 9½ inches, with a pale complexion, bue eyes and brown hair. There was a "small round scar inside the right ankle." The cause of this is not noted. According to Lieutenant V. G. Davey, Parish was "a sober and reliable man." The service records include advice to discharged men, directing them to The National Association for Employment for Ex-Soldiers, whose Head Office is at 119 Victoria Street, SW1.British Army WWI Pension Records 1914-1920These records show that Parish was discharged from the Army suffering from tuberculosis. He had been admitted to hospital suffering from pneumonia but after this was resolved, according to the officer at the Military Hospital at Grantham, this was followed by "dullness and other signs of T.B. left apex. T.B. was found to have T.B. in his sputum." Like many others, Parish appears to have lied about his age on his papers.

Information from the 1911 census

Frederick G. Parish, 51, was a house painter from Bury St Edmunds, Norfolk. His wife, Clara, 41, was from Canterbury. The children on the 1911 census were:

William Parish, 19, kitchen porter, born in Canterbury

Frederick J. Parish, 12, born in Kennington

Violet May Parish, 10, born in Kennington

Rosey Parish, 7, born in Kennington

John L. Parish, 7 months, born in Kennington