Parkers from Cheadle Hulme

[Sandra Parker]

Trying to find details of Harold Parker, born Cheadle, Cheshire 1894. served in war, gassed and returned to live in Cheshire. Have checked Nat Archives, but there are lots of Harold Parkers in both the Cheshire and the Manchester Regiments, so don't know where to start.

Family stories tell of a younger brother, John Parker, known as Jack, used his brother William Parker's birth certificate to sign up, too. William was born 11.11.1900 and Jack was born Feb/March 1902. Jack decided that the military life was not for him and he 'took leave' and ended up for a while in Mount Joy prison in Ireland as a result. Again, no idea of the regiment, or even the date, as even using he brother's cetificate, he would surely have had said he was 16, that makes his enlistment as at least 1916.

Unfortunately there are no family members left to clarify things. These 2 were the only members of the family to be involved with WW1. It seems highly unlikely that either were involved in anything other than the Manchester or Cheshire Regiments, though I have no real reason for that. These regiments seems to have had more than their share of Harold and John, and even pseudo William, Parkers!

Does anyone have any ideas where to start?

Sandra Parker

Darwin

[John_Hartley]

Sandra

Cheadle Hulme is my research patch but, I'm afraid, I havnt come across any Parkers (that said, my research is into the guys on the war memorial, not the ones who lived).

The difficulty you have is that cannot assume that they would served with the local regiments (which would be the Cheshires or Manchesters). If they joined later in the War,say from 1915, they could, and probably would, have been drafted to any regiment. They may also have served in the artillery or the Army Service Corps.

The local papers of the time are very good about obituaries and may have some detail about men who joined up. However, this would mean trawling the microfilm records of the papers at Stockport's Local Heritage Library. If you found a reference it may well indicate which regiment but if this was, say, the Cheshires you would still probably have quite a lot of possibles at the National Archives.

The other possibility is the Absent Voters List for 1918 (assuming any of them were aged 21+). This is held at the County Record Office at Chester. However, from memory, I don't think the one covering the Cheadle Hulme area lists Regiment (just saying they are on militayr or naval service). But I could be wrong.

Sorry not to be more helpful (particularly with an enquiry so local to me). Please contact me by Personal Message or email if you think I may have any more advice to offer.

John