Pte Joe Parsons, 4th Royal Fusiliers and Döberitz

[Mollymaggoo]

I am putting together the story of Private Joe Parsons, 4th Royal Fusiliers, injured and captured at Mons, interned at Döberitz. I have various artefacts and records, e.g. discharge and demob papers, photographs, letters, and programmes from the Döberitz Empire where he took part in concerts as a comedian (Cecil Tooke's work comes up quite often). Yet I can't find any official military record of him via Ancestry, National Archives or the Forces WWI War Records. Is this unusual? I'd like to add elements of the story to the IWM Lives of the First World War but I can't kickstart it without an official record. When the story is finished I'll do another posting asking anyone interested to contact me for a copy.

[spof]

Hi Mollymagoo and welcome to the Forum.

Do you have a service number for him? He should already have a record on "Lives" and the number will help work out which one it is. I have found 2 Joseph Parsons who served in the RF there.

Glen

[Mollymaggoo]

Hi Glen and thanks for your reply.

His service no. is 8709, Private Joseph Patrick Parsons, 4th Royal Fusiliers. Signed up 1901, discharged Feb 1913; re-enlisted May 1913, demobbed 1919. I'd be interested to see your results. I wonder how your approach differed from mine?

Mary

[Stebie9173]

Assuming that they remain on course, the International Committee of the Red Cross should make their records (including POW movements) available online in August 2014.

Steve.

[Guest Newburj]

I am putting together the story of Private Joe Parsons, 4th Royal Fusiliers, injured and captured at Mons, interned at Döberitz. I have various artefacts and records, e.g. discharge and demob papers, photographs, letters, and programmes from the Döberitz Empire where he took part in concerts as a comedian (Cecil Tooke's work comes up quite often). Yet I can't find any official military record of him via Ancestry, National Archives or the Forces WWI War Records. Is this unusual? I'd like to add elements of the story to the IWM Lives of the First World War but I can't kickstart it without an official record. When the story is finished I'll do another posting asking anyone interested to contact me for a copy.

Hi there,

I stumbled upon this post a while ago and wondered if you had progressed any further with your research? I'd be very interested in finding out more.

John.

[Drew-1918]

Hello,

Had a brief look at the ICRC records that Steve mentioned but couldn't see him there. He is mentioned in a 'roll call' document quoted by Paul Nixon here:

Royal Fusiliers - Other Rank PoWs 1914

There is an MiC and a medal roll entry for him. Perhaps you have found them by now, but if not, perhaps it was the "L/" prefix that was causing you problems (L/8709).

MiC

Great photo by the way.

Regards,

Chris

[Stebie9173]

He also appears in a list of Missing in the Times of 21-10-1914. I can't see him on ICRC either.

Steve.