WW1 - John George Parfitt

John George Parfitt was born in Binsted in 1898, the oldest son of James and Louisa Parfitt. The family lived at 1 or 2 Rose Cottages on The Straits which was in the Civil Parish of Binsted though the children (John had two younger sisters, Alice Louisa and Dorothy and one brother, Henry James) would have walked from there to Kingsley School.

In the 1901 census his father is identified as a nursery labourer so he probably worked at the nearby Kingsley Fruit Farm.

John Parfitt enlisted as a private in November 1914 with the Dorset Regiment at Winchester (No. 5297), but was later transferred to the 8th (Service) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment (No. 33832). It appears that he was only sixteen when he signed up and so would still have been under-age when he went to France in 1916. Recruits were supposed to be 18 before they could enlist and 19 before they could be sent overseas.

He wrote and signed an “informal will” on 2nd August 1917 in which he left all his property and his effects to his mother, Louisa Parfitt and he was killed in action, probably at the Battle of Passchendaele, on 4th October 1917, aged only 19. The regiment’s war diary refers to “Atrocious conditions : untold odds, very heavy shelling, appalling mud. A battle against pill-boxes and machine guns, with very heavy casualties.”

John George Parfitt is one of only nine men who are named on the Birr Cross Roads Cemetery at Ieper, West- Vlaanderen in Belgium which was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens (Sp.Mem.4).

The cemetery contains “special memorials” which means he was known or believed to be buried amongst the 336 unidentified burials.

He is remembered on the Binsted War Memorial which was dedicated in November 1921 – but his name was not initially inscribed. His mother, Louisa, wrote a very poignant letter to Mrs Lucy Ogilvy, who was the treasurer of the War Memorial Committee :

“I feel I must say how much it touched me…..and found my dear boy’s name wasn’t mentioned…….we made a lovely cross to put on for our son you can imagine how my feelings were hurt….”

The Parfitt family continued to live on The Straits until the 1920s when they moved to Wheatley and John Parfitt still has descendents who live locally.

WW1 - (Edwin /Edward) Charles Painting

Charles Painting was born in Kingsclere Hampshire in 1881 and married Sarah Odell (from Islington London) in Alton in 1908.

The house that has replaced the original Pear Tree Cottage.

By 1911 his parents and five brothers and sisters were living in Bentworth but he and his wife and his sister-in-law, were living in Kingsley, in Pear Tree Cottage at The Straits.

He is identified as a farm labourer, so he may well have worked at Kingsley Fruit Farm.

Charles enlisted at Alton at the beginning of the war, on the 12th September 1914, (though the Rev. Laverty notes it as 5th August) with the 1st Battalion Hampshire Regiment (No. 5813), aged 34. He must have been in the army previous to this date as he had already received two South African medals with three bars.

After re-enlisting he was only with his regiment for less than two months before he died from his wounds, received in action, at the Boulogne Hospital on 5th November and he was buried at the Boulogne Eastern Cemetery (IIIB.30). Charles was recorded in the Parish Magazine of June 1915 as one of “Our Defenders ….killed”.

He is also on the Bordon Roll of Honour (though the date shown is 26 September 1914).

His wife and sister-in-law must have moved from Kingsley to Headley soon after he died, as the Rev. Laverty wrote :

“…come to Tibolds no. 3 and there January 1915. Widow married 1906 (it was 1908!) of a soldier (Private) Edward Charles 1st Hants. who had served 20 years or more (Not exactly accurate as Edward Charles was only 34 when he enlisted!).He rejoined 5.9.1914 and died in Boulogne Hospital…..Her sister is Elizabeth O’dell.”

Mrs Painting subsequently married Frank Coombes of Headley but died in Park Prewitt in 1925.

WW1 - Alfred Edward Naunton

Alfred Naunton was born in London in 1881, married Louise Fairman in 1900 and joined the GPO in June1902, aged 20.

He, his wife and five young children moved down to Hampshire from Battersea in 1912 as he joined the newly-opened Post Office at Bordon Camp. Rev. Laverty wrote “A Bordon postman came January 1912 to Eashing Cottages (Headley) and moved on in 1912 to Elm Cottages, Lindford”.

At some time between 1915 and 1916 the family moved to The Straits and the children attended Kingsley School.

Alfred enlisted at Whitehill and joined the 5th Dorsetshire Regiment, (No. 18152), probably in 1914 and by his death in 1917 he was a Lance Corporal with D Company XV Platoon.

He was involved in the heavy fighting at the Chalk Pit near Beaumont Hamel during the Battle of the Somme in January 1917. His family heard nothing from him and it was assumed he had been taken prisoner, but in July 1917 a letter was sent to Mrs Naunton from the British Red Cross (via Susan Lushington) informing her that his name was not on any official lists of prisoners. And it was not until February 1918 that a further letter came from the Enquiry Department (at the Red Cross) for Wounded and Missing which said:

“We much regret to say that not withstanding constant and careful enquiries, we have not been able to hear anything of L/Cpl. A. Naunton and have come to the conclusion that he must have lost his life at the time when he was missing. We have questioned all the men of his unit whom we have been able to see, both in English hospitals and at the bases abroad, and none of them has been able to throw any light on his casualty……….We wish to offer our sincere sympathy to the family and friends.”

Signed on behalf of the Earl of Lucan.

So for over a year Mrs Naunton, with her five children, would have heard no news about her husband.

Alfred is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing (Pier & Face 7B) which is dedicated to those who fell on The Somme and have no known grave and his name is also on the Bordon Post Office’s Roll of Honour and on the Bordon War Memorial.

There are several references to the Naunton children in the Parish Magazine and in the Kingsley School records. Alfred (aged 10) won a three-legged race in the Empire Day celebrations in late May 1916 and was collecting for the Red Cross in November 1916 and Rose and Alfred had plots in the school garden in July 1917, with Rose winning a prize. Alfred’s wife, Louise Naunton, is said to have played the piano at the Bordon barracks as entertainment for the troops.

One of Alfred’s grand daughters, Winnifred Evans, takes up the account :

“After the war Gran (Louise) moved back to London and in 1919 the family, Gran and five kids, moved to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The children ranged from 18 to 8 years. We are still trying to understand why the family moved to one of the coldest places on earth….We wonder what kind of propaganda was being spread that Gran decided to move there instead of Florida!”

All five of Alfred and Louise’s children stayed and died in Canada.

In 1921 Louise, now living in Edmonton, received Alfred’s Memorial Scroll and a letter from the king and later a Memorial Plaque (or Widow’s Penny). However probate for Alfred’s will was not granted until July 1923.

Footnote

In the 1960s one of Alfred’s daughters, Rose, visited Kingsley to find the house in the Straits where the family lived. She met with Mrs Taylor who lived there at that time.

Rose (nee Naunton) with Mrs Taylor and Mrs Taylor’s mother-in-law at The Straits

In 2013 Rose’s daughter, Winnifred sent me a tremendous amount of material ( including the 1960s photo) about her grandfather for which I am most grateful.