Driver Parsons

[Jon6640]

The followig is a soldier comemorated on my village war memorial:

Driver 486931 Clarence Parsons, 473 Field Company

Royal Engineers

Reasearch has revealed that Clarence, the son of John and Annie Parsons lived at 109 High Street, Cheslyn Hay. He was twenty one when he died of wounds on 9th Octoner 1918 whilst serving in India. He is buried in Hosur Road Cemetery, Bangalore, India and is remembered on the Madras 1914 – 1918 War Memorial at Chennai.

This will seem like a really thick question but what fighting was going on in India?

Jon

[chaz]

probably a jehad, holy war best bet is contact the RE museum.

[Guest mruk]

One explanation could be that Clarence Parsons died as a result of a riot. There was a lot of disquiet in India before, during, and after the war, with much of the discontent dating to the Indian Mutiny of the 1850s, and later feelings of betrayal over promises of self-rule and determination. Almost 1.5 million men from India had taken up arms for the British, with many of them dying along the Western Front, amongst other places, and it was expected that their contribution should at least count for something. The British had effectively gone back on their word allowing Indian self-governance and advancement, and Driver Parsons may well have been one of the unfortunates who got caught up in the reprisals. It's hard to say, and it may well be that you need to contact the RE Museum, as Chaz has suggested.

Kind Regards,

Dave

[Guest mruk]

Just as an afterthought Jon, I don't know what the wording would have been if Driver Parsons had died as a result of wounds suffered other than conflict. I'm wondering if it's possible that he died of wounds suffered as a result of injury. A collision, perhaps, or septicaemia. Just a thought.

Regards,

Dave

[Alan Lines]

I'm probably totaly wrong, but didn't some of the men wounded in Mesopotamia get shipped to India?

[AndrewThornton]

473rd Field Company did not actually serve overseas. It was originally 3/3rd North Midland Field Company, so Clarence is likely to have been a member of a draft, possibly for a Royal Engineers unit in Mesopotamia. Clarence himself had originally enlisted at Norton Canes as a member of 2nd North Midland Field Company in August 1914.

[Max]

probably a jehad, holy war best bet is contact the RE museum.

As over 80% of the population of Bangalore are Hindus I think that this is highly unlikely.

[chaz]

Max, the quote actually came from a regimental web site after I googled the info given.

anyway 20% left could cause a bit of a stir especialy to a single batallion or two

[Pete L]

The SDGW CD has 51 men killed in action in India and another 68 died of wounds. There are no deaths called simply Killed, ie implying a death during civil unrest, so the WD at least considered them as part of a campaign. These figures cover the period 1914 to 1919.

Pete

[Jon6640]

Thanks to forum member Paul Nixon I now have a phot of the memorial which bears amongst others Driver Parsons name, the memorial reads,

"In memory of the NCO’s and men of the Royal Engineers who died at Bangalore during the Influenza Epidemic 1918 erected by their comrades”.

Maybe SDGW is wrong and Driver Parsons died of flu?