Sapper Walter Parkes

SAPPER WALTER PARKES

1120 – 3rd Tunnelling Company

Lambley, Nottinghamshire, England was the birthplace of Walter Parkes in 1887 the son of (father’s name unknown) and Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Parkes. In 1891 Walter was residing with his Uncle and Aunt at Penfold Lane, Lambley and the household consisted of William (35) frame work knitter and his wife Elizabeth (25) seamstress with Walter (4) nephew and Florence E. (2) niece.

A decade later in 1901 Walter was a boarder living at Town Street, Lambley with Robert Dickman (38) frame work knitter, Mary K. (37) seamstress, Francis (16), Walter R. (10) and niece Sarah Ward (3) with Walter Parkes (14) boarder, an ordinary labourer.

An Ancestry family history file records him as an English passenger - Walter Parkes, (23) engineer departing from Antwerpen for Sydney on the German mail steamer Friedrich der Grosse arriving on February 5, 1912. In 1915 he was a labourer residing at West Guildford, Western Australia.

At the recruiting depot in Perth on November 19, 1915 the twenty-eight year old labourer applied to enlist for active service abroad. With the medical examination passed Attestation Forms were attended to and describe him as 180cms (5ft 11ins) tall, weighing 62.7kgs (138lbs) with a chest expansion of 93-99cms (36½-39ins). Complexion was fresh with blue eyes and had light brown hair. Distinctive marks were two vaccination scars on his left arm and a scar on the left shoulder. Religious faith was Church of Christ. Next-of-kin was given as his mother Mrs Elizabeth Parkes but as her address was unknown his cousin Mrs W. Esswood of 6 Chesterfield Road, Carlton, Nottinghamshire, England was nominated. He was sworn in the same day.

Basic training was to commence with the 37th Depot Battalion but was allotted on November 29, 1915 to the Miners’ Corps in the rank of Sapper.

Recruiting for the Miners’ Corps officially began on December 1st, 1915 therefore Sapper Parkes was placed for basic training at the Helena Vale camp at Blackboy Hill, W.A. with the newly forming Corps. The Unit’s title was the No. 3 Company with a major portion of No. 3 Company recruited by 2nd Lt. L.J. Coulter, A.I.F. who was sent from N.S.W. to W.A. for that purpose. They were made up to strength with 1 Officer and 274 Other Ranks and embarked from Fremantle, W.A.

On December 18, 1915 the company sailed for Sydney, NSW on board the troopship SS Indarra. His name appears on the passenger list which was published in:

On Boxing Day (Dec 26th), 1915 the Unit arrived in Sydney and marched into Casula Camp, near Liverpool, NSW. They were joined by the 4th Section of the Tasmanian Miners, bringing the establishment strength up to 15 officers and 349 Other Ranks under the command of 2nd Lieutenant L.J. Coulter.

Mining Corps Units from all Military districts came together at Casula camp, near Liverpool, NSW to complete training as a Corps. Parkes was assigned the regimental number 1120 in the rank of Sapper and remained in No. 3 Company.

At a civic parade in the Domain, Sydney on Saturday February 19, 1916, a large crowd of relations and friends of the departing Miners lined the four sides of the parade ground. Sixty police and 100 Garrison Military Police were on hand to keep the crowds within bounds. The scene was an inspiriting one. On the extreme right flank, facing the saluting base, were companies of the Rifle Club School; next came a detachment of the 4th King’s Shropshire Light Infantry, then the bands of the Light Horse, Liverpool Depot, and the Miners’ on the left, rank upon rank, the Miners’ Battalion.

The Corps boarded HMAT A38 Ulysses in Sydney, NSW on February 20 and sailed for the European theatre. Arriving in Melbourne, Victoria on February 22 the Miners camped at Broadmeadows for a stay of 7 days while further cargo was loaded.

Another parade was held at the Broadmeadows camp on March 1, the Miners’ Corps being inspected by the Governor-General, as Commander-in-Chief of the Commonwealth military forces.

Leaving Melbourne on March 1, Ulysses arrived at Fremantle, Western Australia on March 7 where a further 53 members were taken on board.

On Wednesday March 8, 1916 the whole force, with their band and equipment, paraded at Fremantle prior to leaving Victoria Quay at 9.30 o’clock.

The ship hit a reef when leaving Fremantle harbour, stripping the plates for 40 feet and, although there was a gap in the outside plate, the inner bilge plates were not punctured. The men on board nicknamed her ‘Useless’. The Miners were off-loaded and sent to the Blackboy Hill Camp where further training was conducted.

The Mining Corps comprised 1303 members at the time they embarked with a Headquarters of 40; No.1 Company – 390; No.2 Company – 380; No.3 Company – 392, and 101 members of the 1st Reinforcements.

Finally departing Fremantle on April 1, Ulysses voyaged via Suez, Port Said and Alexandria in Egypt. The Captain of the shipwas reluctantto take Ulysses out of the Suez Canal because he felt the weight of the ship made it impossible to manoeuvre in the situation of a submarine attack. The troops were transhipped to HM Transport B.1 Ansonia, then on to Valetta, Malta before disembarking at Marseilles, France on May 5, 1916. As a unit they entrained at Marseilles on May 7 and detrained on May 11 at Hazebrouck.

A ‘Mining Corps’ did not fit in the British Expeditionary Force, and the Corps was disbanded and three Australian Tunnelling Companies were formed. The Technical Staff of the Corps Headquarters, plus some technically qualified men from the individual companies, was formed into the entirely new Australian Electrical and Mechanical Mining and Boring Company (AEMMBC), better known as the ‘Alphabetical Company’.

Four sections of the No. 3 Company were dispersed to various sectors for instructional training. The No. 3 Company was officially transferred to the 3rd Tunnelling Company in the field on December 18, 1916.

Sapper was wounded in action on January 28, 1917 but remained on duty. In the Unit Diary of the 3rd Tunnelling Company the following was reported:

He was wounded in action for the second occasion on August 12, 1917 from shell gas and taken to the 53rd Casualty Clearing Station then conveyed on Ambulance Train No. 12 to the 18th General Hospital at Camiers. The Unit Diary reported the following:

On August 19, 1917 Sapper was sent to the 6th Convalescent Depot at Etaples progressing to the 5th Convalescent Depot at Cayeaux on August 21, 1917. Was discharged to Base Duties at the Aust General Base Depot in Rouelles on September 6 and five days later he left to rejoin his unit arriving on September 14, 1917.

He went to the 8th Canadian Field Ambulance on January 9, 1918 suffering from scabies (skin irritation caused by Itch Mite whose eggs are laid under the skin’s outer layer) then transferred to the 12th Canadian Field Ambulance being admitted with Tomia Solum (condition from soil contamination possibly through scabies) and discharged to duty on January 14, 1918.

Three Blue Chevrons were issued to wear on his uniform on February 20, 1918 for serving two years abroad.

Gifts from the Kalgoorlie Comfort Fund were received and a letter signed by the recipients was reprinted in the:

On April 24, 1918 he went sick to the 34th Field Ambulance with Bronchitis and transferred to the 23rd C.C.S. and the next day conveyed on A.T.8 to Boulogne entering the 55th General Hospital. On May 5 was moved to the 54th General Hospital with a nasal obstruction. On May 16 was transferred to the 1st Convalescent Depot in Boulogne and two days later was moved to the 10th Convalescent Depot at Ecault. On May 21, 1918 was discharged to No. 5 Rest Camp and after three days was sent to the A.G.B.D. in Rouelles marching out on June 28 and rejoining his unit on June 30.

Leave was granted from November 9 until December 21, 1918 and while away Peace was declared. The Tunnelling Companies remained on the front as part of the Army of Occupation assisting with rehabilitation of their areas by clearing roads and bridges and defusing booby traps left by the enemy.

Orders were received on February 6, 1919 to prepare to return to England and they left the A.G.B.D. on February 21, 1919 and crossed the English Channel the next day marching in to the Royal Brigade Aust Artillery camp at Heytesbury. On March 19 marched out to the 2nd Training Brigade camp at Codford.

A month later after demobilisation Sapper embarked for Australia from Devonport on April 19, 1919 per H.T. Sardinia. The ship docked in Fremantle (5th Military District) on May 28, 1919.

News of their arrival was published in:

Military Discharge was issued in Perth (5th M.D.) on January 17, 1920 as medically unfit.

The British War Medal (8200) and the Victory Medal (8165) were issued to Sapper 1120 Walter Parkes, 3rd Tunnelling Company for serving his country.

He married in Perth, W.A. in 1919 to Sadie Dorothy Grafham.

From 1925 onwards their residence was Queens Road, South Guildford with his occupation as a labourer.

Walter Parkes passed away on September 11, 1955 aged 68 years. Burial took place in the General portion of Guildford Cemetery within Section B in gravesite 111.

Mrs Sadie D. Parkes, late of Bassendean, died on April 23, 1987 aged 91 years and was buried with her husband.

His service is commemorated by a plaque in the Perth War Cemetery’s Garden of Remembrance on Wall 5 in Row H.