Harold Charles Parsons

Harold was the son of Dr. Charles O'Connor Parsons, who during the Great War was the physician and surgeon at the St. John's VAD Hospital on Abbeydale Road. Both Harold and his younger brother, Eric, were born in Rhodes, Lancashire.

At the time of the Great War the family were living at Dovedale, 2, Totley Brook Road. Harold's father was born in Liverpool and that may well be the reason for Harold enlisting in the 5th Battalion, the King's Liverpool Regiment rather than one of the local regiments.

He enlisted on 10th August 1915 claiming to be aged 19. It was noted at his enlistment medical that he had very poor eyesight. A few days later, Harold was transferred from the 5th Battalion to the 43rd Provisional Battalion of the same regiment. This was a battalion which had been formed in 1915 from Home Service personnel of the regiment's Territorial Force Battalions; these were men who had joined the TF but had not volunteered to serve overseas. It later became the 25th Battalion. It seems probable that this was because it was soon realised that Harold was not physically fit for active service in France.

What is surprising is that on the 4th January 1916 Harold was listed as being discharged "in consequence of not being likely to become an efficient soldier". It would have been explicable on the basis of his rather poor eyesight if only his character had not been described as "bad".

He died on 9th March 1920, aged 23. The report of his death in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph a couple of days later was headed "The end of an adventurous war career" and stated that on discharge from the Army, Harold was transferred to the Merchant Navy because of his medical category, and that he had served "in various parts of the world".

The Dore and Totley Parochial Magazine for October 1917 said that at that time he was "somewhere on the high seas as a wireless operator". After his death, the magazine further reported, "He was torpedoed and suffered other terrible ordeals, as a result of which, it is thought, he contracted consumption. He has since had a severe breakdown, which resulted in his death".

What had happened to Harold can only be guessed at. On his death, he left all his money and possessions to his brother Eric, who was described as a physician and surgeon like his father. The will describes Harold as a Wireless Operator. And yet, he is on Dore's War Memorial. We can only presume that this was the wish of his parents, and if their son had been on the high seas for most of the five years preceding his death, this was the most appropriate place to remember him.