Jump to content
Free downloads from TNA ×
The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Lt. James Alfred Parker - Cashiered Feb 29, 1916


PJS

Recommended Posts

James Alfred Parker was commissioned into the 9th Battalion Manchester Regiment as a Second Lieutenant on 8th May, 1914.  He was promoted to Lieutenant, along with several other junior officers, on November 4, 1914 while serving in Egypt. He landed with the 1/9th in Gallipoli on May 9, 1915 as a Platoon Commander in “B” Company.

 

 

Local newspaper reports indicate that he survived a bloody bayonet charge on June 18 and temporarily took command of B company after his company CO was wounded and evacuated. He was himself evacuated to hospital in Alexandria later that month suffering from enteric fever.

 

 

The London Gazette of the 5th April, 1916 has the following entry:

Manchester Regt. Lieut. James A. Parker is cashiered by sentence of a General Court-Martial. 29th Feb, 1916.

 

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29535/supplement/3653

 

How can I find out anything more about this Officer and the reason why he was cashiered?

 

 

Thank You

Peter

Edited by PJS
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Manchesters' Gallipoli War Diary (TNA records on Ancestry) is a slender document. On 19 Jun, B Company and part of C Company under Capt H Sugden made an attack on the Turkish trenches at the Krithia Nullah, but a 'strong enemy attack' prevented the trenches from being taken. Sugden was mortally wounded, Lt JM Wade was wounded and missing, and nine ORs killed, 33 wounded and 17 missing. However, Parker is not mentioned at all in the WD.

Acknown

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Acknown said:

The Manchesters' Gallipoli War Diary (TNA records on Ancestry) is a slender document. On 19 Jun, B Company and part of C Company under Capt H Sugden made an attack on the Turkish trenches at the Krithia Nullah, but a 'strong enemy attack' prevented the trenches from being taken. Sugden was mortally wounded, Lt JM Wade was wounded and missing, and nine ORs killed, 33 wounded and 17 missing. However, Parker is not mentioned at all in the WD.

Acknown

 

Thank you for that. As you say, the Gallipoli war diary is hardly extensive but Parker is notable for his absence in the war diary, both as temporarily commanding B Company and being medically evacuated. I assume that he spent some time in hospital in Alexandria and then was shipped home to the UK to recuperate. So, I'm very curious to dig into what he could have done at the end of 1915 or early 1916 to get himself court martialed and cashiered. He was promoted in the field (in Egypt) and was competent (and presumably brave enough) to be given command of the Company in Gallipoli. What did he do that caused the wheels to come off?

 

Peter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I cannot get an MIC nor a TNA officer file reference. The court martial would be in his file

 

The reason for removal from the army, I have found, is usually a civil crime (and there is nothing in the local papers) or an internal army matter, usually financial and probably involving bouncing cheques (but you would only get that from his officer file.

 

I concede that it could be due to many other reasons, but the cheques is the most likely

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

4 minutes ago, corisande said:

I cannot get an MIC nor a TNA officer file reference. The court martial would be in his file

 

The reason for removal from the army, I have found, is usually a civil crime (and there is nothing in the local papers) or an internal army matter, usually financial and probably involving bouncing cheques (but you would only get that from his officer file.

 

I concede that it could be due to many other reasons, but the cheques is the most likely

 

Yes, his Army record seems to have been obliterated. I wondered about bounced cheques or perhaps an unwillingness to return to action. Do you know if there are any separate records of court martial records for February 1916?

 

Peter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Ancestry has a court martial register - click to see J A Parker in 1916 - but I do not see him. It may be worth your while  exploring this cource

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would go along with corisande, that one or more bounced cheques caused his court martial under Section 16 of the Army Act, "conduct unbecoming the character of an officer and a gentleman". It seems a bit harsh, but for that offence cashiering was the only punishment permitted under the Act.

 

There are registers of courts-martial in some of the WO classes at the National Archives, probably in WO84 or WO90. Neither of these are available online. As an officer, he would have been tried by either a General or Field General Court Martial.

 

Ron

Link to comment
Share on other sites

An officer could also be cashiered for drunkenness.

 

TR
 


 

 

Edited by Terry_Reeves
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think “conduct unbecoming” covered a fairly broad range of offences.

I thought (although I’m happy to be corrected on this point) that the WW1 courts martial case files had been destroyed and that only the records of sentences survived. From my relatively limited experience, the service papers of officers who were cashiered have been heavily weeded so there may be very few if any references to the offence that he was sentenced for. Local newspapers *may* have a brief report of his sentencing.

Having lost his commission he would have become liable for service in the ranks (assuming he didn’t receive a custodial sentence, I suppose), so you may find that he had subsequent service as an OR.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, headgardener said:

Having lost his commission he would have become liable for service in the ranks (assuming he didn’t receive a custodial sentence, I suppose), so you may find that he had subsequent service as an OR.

 

Yes that is very true

 

I researched about 2000 officers who joined the Aux. Police in Ireland in 1920/1921

 

Of these 17 lost their commissions in WW1 - click for list  This gives a list of reasons  why these particular men lost their commissions (and does not cover civil crime). I was able to substantiate the reasons usually from the mans officer file

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Peter,

I recommend Lynda's Ashton Pals site. Lt Parker took part in the assault on 18th June 1915 and became acting OC B Coy.  He was subsequently invalided from Gallipoli to Alexandria with Entric Fever.

No records of being cashiered though.  It would be worth asking on the Manchesters Forum.

Tim

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Could an officer be cashiered if he was declared bankrupt? Or would he be "asked" to resign his commission?

(I once researched an officer in the Dragoons who had to resign his commission (at least I think it was that way) in 1856/57 having run up gambling debts of £87,000 which he couldn't pay.)

Edited by rolt968
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, corisande said:

 

Ancestry has a court martial register - click to see J A Parker in 1916 - but I do not see him. It may be worth your while  exploring this cource

 

Thanks for the link. I had reviewed that list from Ancestry yesterday and I did not find him. Since that exhausted my knowledge of Courts Martial it prompted my post. It's a pity his service record seems to be missing.

 

Peter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, 8055Bell said:

Hi Peter,

I recommend Lynda's Ashton Pals site. Lt Parker took part in the assault on 18th June 1915 and became acting OC B Coy.  He was subsequently invalided from Gallipoli to Alexandria with Entric Fever.

No records of being cashiered though.  It would be worth asking on the Manchesters Forum.

Tim

 

Hi Tim,

 

Thanks for the input. I will take your suggestion and post this on the Manchesters Forum and see if that turns anything up.

 

Another thing that's curious about Lt. Parker is that I could not find any obvious records for any James Alfred Parkers who were living in or around Ashton-under-Lyne in 1911. He was commissioned in May 1914 and all of the other pre-war Officers of the 1/9th lived in the area. He is quite the enigma.

 

Peter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, sadbrewer said:

A little more about him from The Advertiser, July 9th, 1915.

Courtesy of the British Newspaper Archive 

 

Screenshot_20200706-234558.jpg

 

Thank you. That's a very interesting letter and I had not seen it before. It again puts Lt. Parker in Gallipoli in early June.

 

William Henry Foden was a 23 year old athlete, (sprinter). This letter clearly puts Foden's death as May 30, 1915 whereas SDGW has it as June 13 and the Register of Soldier's Effects gives June 1st. Something else for me to look into.

 

Peter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Court Martial Extracts from  WO90/6 Judge Advocate General's Office: General Courts Martial Registers Abroad

 

Lt JA. Parker 1/9th Bn The Manchester Regt (TF) trial date 14th Feb 1916.

Where held (looks like) Shallufa?

Nature of Charge Disobeying CC.

Sentence Cashiered & 84 days Hard Labour

Remitted 56 days

Lt Parker page.PNG

Lt Parker page. No2.PNG

Lt Parker page. No3.PNG

Edited by themonsstar
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, themonsstar said:

Court Martial Extracts from  WO90/6 Judge Advocate General's Office: General Courts Martial Registers Abroad

 

Lt JA. Parker 1/9th Bn The Manchester Regt (TF) trial date 14th Feb 1916.

Where held (looks like) Shallufa?

Nature of Charge Disobeying CC.

Sentence Cashiered & 84 days Hard Labour

Remitted 56 days

Lt Parker page.PNG

Lt Parker page. No2.PNG

Lt Parker page. No3.PNG

 

That is exactly what I was hoping to find. Thank you!

 

The 1/9th arrived in Shallufa on January 29th and left Shallufa for Kabrit on February 10th. February 11 -22, Battalion engaged in putting the post into a state of defence.

 

 

Peter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Nature of Charge Disobeying CC. "

 

So who did he disobey, the battalion's Colonel (who had rejoined on Feb 8) or C in C of whole area.?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, corisande said:

"Nature of Charge Disobeying CC. "

 

So who did he disobey, the battalion's Colonel (who had rejoined on Feb 8) or C in C of whole area.?

 

It is very intriguing and presumably will only be revealed by the charge sheet itself.  Incidentally I was surprised to see the terms Cashiered and Dismissed in the same column of outcomes (sentences), because there is an entry in Hansard dated I think 1878 that sets out to deplore the introduction of 'Cashiered' as an elevated punishment above dismissal.  It was apparently to be reserved for the most heinous crimes whilst not stipulating, for the most part, what those were to be beyond the few charges where it was the only prescribed punishment.  Its implication was severe, because not only was it concomitant with dismissal from the service, but it added the refinement that a man so convicted and sentenced was to be prevented from holding any office in the service of the King (and ipso facto his government) whatsoever.  In the prevailing terms of that year it also meant that, unlike dismissal, the convicted and sentenced man lost the deposit of capital invested in his rank so that he could not sell out his commission to others and recoup some of his original investment.  Thus he was in every respect utterly ruined and to be pitied, in that it is very difficult to see any course open to him to make good.  Clearly the latter aspect no longer applied, but I do wonder if the Cashiering still carried the same penalty as it did in 1878.  The term cashiered no longer appears in the British Manual of Military Law so it must at some subsequent point have been removed from the military statutes.

Edited by FROGSMILE
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This may not be a massively important point, but couldn’t the charge be read as “Disobeying C.O.”.....?

The The writing is a little untidy, but I think the 2nd letter looks like it has a different form to the 1st. Unfortunately there isn’t a comparable capital ‘O’ on either page to compare it with.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought the letters might be LC in cursive script.  If so, 'Disobeying [a] Lawful Command' is a common charge at courts martial.

Edited by FROGSMILE
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...