Background
Charles Parkinson was born February 16, 1897 in Dogdyke, England to West
Walter Parkinson and Minnie Wilkinson. According to records, Charles had a
large family including three sisters, Annie, Margaret, and Kate, as well as
four brothers, Sydney, Alfred, Edwin, and Walter. Although there are few
records explaining the family’s reason for coming to Canada from England, a
passenger list shows the entire family arriving to Saint John from
Liverpool in April of 1905, aboard a ship called the “Virginian”. The
document also reveals that Charles’ father was a farmer destined for St.
Mary’s, York County. While little is known of the particulars of their life
upon arriving in Fredericton, newspapers suggest that West would volunteer
with the 104th Battalion and that Charles and his brothers would quickly
find work as mill labourers in the area once they were old enough.
Records show that the family had a home at 318 Regent Street during the war
and that they had connections to the Oromocto area, as an address belonging
to Minnie can be found in Charles’ attestation. It is possible that the
family moved to another residence while Charles and his father were
overseas. At the time of his formal enlistment in Fredericton, April 15,
1915, Charles had prior military experience serving with the local militia
and he was not married. According to his attestation, he was seventeen
years old and described as having blue eyes, brown hair, a dark complexion,
and standing five feet seven inches tall. Along with other Fredericton boys
in the area, he would join the 55th Battalion and later be drafted to the
14th Battalion as reinforcement while overseas. After leaving for training,
documents suggest that he would never return home to family and friends.
Wartime Experience
On June 19, 1915, Private Charles Parkinson embarked from Levis, Quebec
aboard the S.S. Corsican for Shorncliffe, England. Upon arrival, Charles
would immediately be with the 12th Battalion for about two months before
being drafted to the 14th Battalion, which was preparing to go to France in
late summer. His service record reveals that he would join the 14th
Battalion on August 28, 1915, arriving in France the next day.
While Charles Parkinson would only have two months of training in England,
he would take the time to write his will leaving everything to his mother,
Minnie Parkinson. According to his active service file, on September 12,
1915, he left with his unit for Northern France and the Ypres Salient where
Charles would serve until the battle of Mont Sorrell, a month before the
Battle of the Somme. Over the next eight months, Private Parkinson’s
service record illustrates a soldier with an uneasy relationship with
authority. On two occasions, he was given punishments for five and then
twenty-eight days for “being absent from working party without permission”
and later for “insolence to an officer”. Regardless, he would be granted a
leave of absence to England in March 1916, and would return to his unit the
beginning of April where he would be attached to a trench mortar battery.
According to the Canadian War Museum, leading up to the Battle of Mont
Sorrell, the Germans were trying to secure remaining high grounds in the
Ypres Salient and northern France, and as a result were attacking Canadian
positions. Their goal was also to divert the Allied resources from an
offensive that they knew was being prepared in the Somme region. As a
result, the 3rd Canadian division was brutally cut down by a well-planned
artillery bombardment and destroyed forward Canadian positions killing
hundreds of soldiers including the division commander, Major-General Malcom
Mercer.
The German infantry then captured the Canadian positions on Mont Sorrell on
two surrounding hills. The Canadians launched a swiftly organized
counter-attack on June 3 but failed. Three days’ later, the Germans
exploded three mines under Canadian positions and captured the village of
Hooge. Sir Julian Byng, the commander of the Canadian Corps, was determined
to take back the lost ground and attacked after a large artillery
bombardment in the early hours of June 13. In this vital battle, the
Canadians were able to drive off German forces and take back much of their
lost ground. This was a large victory since the Canadians had lost the
first two phases of the operation.
It was during this time that local newspapers revealed Charles Parkinson
had been killed by a high explosive shell that wounded two other soldiers
and that instantly killed him. The paper also revealed a letter received
from Charles Parkinson’s mother, whose husband, Corporal West Parkinson,
had just reached England with the 104th Battalion. The letter, written by
Col. Paul P. Powis of the French Mortar Battery Charles had been attached
to, reads as follows:
“We had just gone into the trenches just before the Canadians launched an
attack. We had done good work, having fired 100 rounds of ammunition, when
a big shell burst right alongside our position, wounding two men badly and
killing your son instantly which, I trust, is a slight comfort to you when
it is considered that so many fine soldiers had to stay for hours out in
the front, mortally wounded, without getting the least possible assistance,
as every able man had to drive on in the attack. I brought in one poor
fellow who had been without food or drink, for thirty-six hours, having
come across him by the merest chance. Such is the price of victory, and it
was indeed a splendid achievement; and your son’s life has not been in
vain. His comrades, wish me to convey to you their deepest sympathy. Your
son was not under my command long, but he always did his duty cheerfully
and died like a true soldier”.
At the time of his death on June 15, 1916, it was reported in newspapers
that among the many items sent home to his mother was a leather case
containing a number of photos of himself and his brothers and sisters. The
case had been pierced by a piece of shell that had killed Private
Parkinson. Charles was nineteen years of age, leaving behind his family and
many friends back home in Fredericton.
Lest We Forget
Private Charles Parkinson is honoured at the Railway Dugouts Burial (Burial
Farm) located in west Vlaaderen, Belgium. According to the Commonwealth War
Graves Commission, Charles Parkinson is one of the approximately 2459
burials honoured here. The memorial was designed by Sir Edwin Latyens.