Richard Greenwood Parker

[bluebellwoods]

my grandfather Richard Greenwood Parker served with the RWF and the MGC. I have his medal index cared giving his regimental numbers as 31295 and 9723. He was born in Blackburn Lancashire in 1895, and died there in 1932 from stomach cancer. The family story is that he was gassed and discharged from the army in 1917.
I have never been able to find any service or pensions records for him, and wonder why he joined the RWF rather than the East Lancs Regiment - would there perhaps have been a recruitment drive ? Before the war, and afterwards, he was a gentleman's hairdresser. I would dearly love to know more about him and wonder if anyone can enlighten me about his time with the RWF. Thank you

[Baconwallah]

Welcome to the Forum, Julie!

There is a Medal Index Card for Richard Parker, MGC 9723, then RWF 31295, then MGC 9723 again. No Silver War Badge number, and not in the SWB lists, so highly unlikely to have had a medical discharge.

I can't find his service or pension records either. They were probably destroyed in the Blitz.

The RWF number indicates a transfer in the second quarter of 1915.

That's all I can say. Hope it helps.

John

[widavies]

Welcome to the Forum, Julie!

There is a Medal Index Card for Richard Parker, MGC 9723, then RWF 31295, then MGC 9723

The RWF number seems unusual as it is out of sequence of the normally assigned numbers, which show a break between 293XX and 315XX and are associated with mid to late 1917 or early 1918 enlistment.

Regards
Will

[Baconwallah]

Three 2nd Bn men in this 293xx-315xx series were killed on 20/07/1916 (31022 Cox, 31030 Crumpton, 31032 Craig) while 31052 Earnshaw, also 2nd Bn, was killed even earlier on 25/04/1916. And there are several more. That can't be reconciled with mid to late 1917 or early 1918 enlistment.

John

[Aled Roberts]

I have just done a very quick filter on my database for this range on known enlistment dates alone, and have over 90.

NUMBER	RANK	CHRST_NAME	SURNAME	Enlisted
29310	Pte	John	Gettins	31.5.15
29314	Pte	Hywel	Davies	17.6.15
29335	Pte	Henry	Bacon	1.7.15
29353	Pte	F	Roberts	23.7.15
29374	Pte	John	Jones	7.8.15
29403	Pte	Frank	Bennett	23.9.15
29420	Pte	James Harold	Cross	30.10.15
29438	Pte	G H	Owen	8.11.15
29442	Pte	H	Wood	13.11.15
29444	L/Cpl	I T	Roberts	9.11.15
29450	Pte	W	Lymer	16.11.15
29527	Pte	T A	Roberts	21.12.15
29551	Pte	John	Jenkins	2.1.16
29580	Pte	William Trevor	Owen	9.12.15
29588	Pte	T	Hopkins	11.1.16
29608	Pte	Harry T	Davies	13.1.16
29638	Pte	John	Lingfield	25.1.16
29812	Pte	Oscar W	Smith	3.12.15
29839	Pte	D A	Lewis	30.11.15
29854	Pte	Hugh W	Jones	4.3.16
29859	Pte	F	Nobel	1.12.15
29881	Pte	R T	Davies	2.4.16
30004	Pte	Walter	Batigan	18.11.14
30027	Pte	John	Henshall	26.8.14
30034	Pte	George	Johnson	13.11.15
30040	Pte	W W	Preston	23.2.15
30050	Pte	J	Small	16.9.14
30051	Pte	F C	Leather	8.2.15
30061	Pte	Harry	Elphick	24.5.15
30071	Pte	Hugh	Moon	2.7.15
30157	Pte	Walter	Driver	12.12.15
30179	Pte	F	Booth	11.12.15
30186	L/Cpl	Walter	Brown	8.12.15
30196	Pte	E	Coote	4.1.16
30293	Pte	A E G	Mears	11.12.15
30350	Pte	L	Payne	8.1.14
30355	Pte	G	Teece	3.3.15
30360	Pte	H	Whitley	6.3.15
30367	Pte	J	Hill	11.12.15
30383	Pte	G	Gilman	4.3.15
30393	Pte	E	Jones	3.3.15
30409	Pte	Walter Harold	Parry	4.3.15
31045	L/Cpl	R A	Dummett	1.2.15
31072	L/Cpl	Thomas	Price	22.3.15
31087	Pte	Albert W	Gray	1.6.15
31089	Pte	J S	Williams	1.6.15
31095	Pte	Mark	Royle	1.6.15
31118	Pte	C	Emerton	1.6.15
31148	Pte	W B	Jones	4.6.15
31153	Pte	William E	Flanagan	3.6.15
31156	Pte	W	Proctor	3.6.15
31162	Pte	Henry	Harris	4.9.14
31169	Pte	D	Richards	21.8.14
31172	Pte	W	Thomas	4.9.14
31186	Pte	Isaac	Evans	5.9.14
31194	L/Cpl	John	Hanson	23.1.15
31229	Pte	Joseph A	Jones	7.9.14
31250	Pte	Thomas F	Woolford	5.6.15
31263	Pte	T	Matthews	29.8.14
31267	Pte	David J	Jenkins	17.8.14
31269	Pte	David M	Jenkins	10.11.14
31275	L/Cpl	G	Johns	28.8.14
31277	Pte	D J	Henry	17.8.14
31288	Pte	Alfred	Mallinson	31.5.15
31291	Pte	William H	Pook	1.6.15
31302	Pte	George H	Newey	5.6.15
31331	Pte	Edward	Edwards	5.6.15
31351	Pte	H	Craven	4.6.15
31386	Pte	Richard	Fairclough	9.6.15
31392	Pte	Frank A W	Parsons	21.12.14
31398	Pte	A E	Onions	3.9.14
31403	Pte	Stanley J	Donovan	29.5.15
31412	Pte	William R	Williams	10.6.15
31427	Pte	Frederick A	Morse	15.6.15
31439	Pte	George	Davies	19.4.15
31439	Pte	Harry	Howard	8.6.15
31441	Pte	Urban D	Craven	10.6.15
31446	Pte	William J	Brayley	11.6.15
31473	Pte	William Matthew	Smith	3.6.15
31483	Pte	James	Clarke	12.6.15
31489	Pte	John	Radford	14.6.15
31499	L/Cpl	Richard E	Jeffers	15.6.15
31502	Pte	H G	Haynes	4.9.14
31507	Pte	T A	Morgan	26.10.14
31514	Pte	B J	Tanner	2.11.14
31515	Pte	Herbert Hughes	Waller	5.9.14
31526	Pte	Stanley	Murray	1.9.14
31537	Pte	Thomas	Mason	7.9.14
31551	Pte	Herbert	Riley	2.9.14
31569	Pte	David	Price	19.8.14

[Baconwallah]

Some more:

Wright HL 29494 19/11/1915
Jones NB 29509 08/12/1915
Zeiler M 29566 06/01/1916
Thomas JG 29577 08/01/1916
Neal SM 29616 09/12/1915
Davies DTE 29619 20/01/1916
Tudor HJ 29634 11/12/1915
Pugh A 29647 02/02/1916
Coombes GA 29658 14/02/1916
Johnson E 30035 19/02/1916
McAllister PJ 30074 28/02/1916 trsf from KLR
Whitely CW 30256 05/01/1916

and so on.

It looks like the 29XXX men were enlistments in 21 RWF, the 30XXX and higher numbers transfers from other regiments/corps (KLR, MGC, RAMC etc).

John