VAD Fred Parker
Convoy and orderly duty
Born on 21st March 1878, Fred was the oldest child of West Parker, a mechanic, and Mary Parker nee Hird, both of Haworth.
He was baptised at St Michael and All Angels Church in Haworth on 30th May 1880.
In 1881 the family lived on West Lane in Haworth, West was unemployed at the time. He and Mary had a daughter, Harriet, who was one year old, as well as Fred.
By 1891 they had moved to 27 Main Street in Haworth, where West was working as a yeast importer and machine agent. Although just 13 years old, Fred was working as a spinner in a worsted mill. In addition to Harriet, he also had younger siblings Mary Ann (eight), John Edward (five), Nellie (two) and Walter (five months).
By 1901 the family had moved back to West Lane where West continued to work as a yeast dealer. Fred was a stone quarry labourer, Harriet and Mary Ann worked in a worsted mill as menders, John Edward and Nellie as doffers. Another brother, Watson, was seven years old. West’s father, Edward, was also living with them.
In the latter quarter of 1903 Fred married Hannah Nunn of Aldershot, Hampshire in Keighley. Hannah had previously been a domestic servant for a Wesleyan Minister and his family in Ingrow.
They lived at 56 West Lane, Haworth in 1911 and had children John West (six), Ivy (four), Herbert (three) and Margaret (one). They had also had another child who had died in infancy. Fred’s occupation was chapel keeper.
Fred worked as a VAD from May 1915 and was still serving at the time of the records’ completion. He divided his time between Morton Banks War Hospital and Spencer Street Auxiliary Hospital undertaking convoy and orderly duties, a total of 1,150 hours were recorded.
At the same time, Fred’s brother John Edward was serving with 16th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers. He was sadly killed in action on 10th February 1917 in France and Flanders and is commemorated at the Thiepval Memorial.
At the time of the 1939 Register Fred and Hannah lived at Manor House, which I believe is on or near Changegate in Haworth. He was described as ‘Incapacitated delver, stone quarry’. Their children still at home were Ivy (incapacitated), Margaret (a cake maker), James (born 1912, a monumental sculpturer), Milton (born 1915, a boot repairer) and Walter (born 1918, a woollen manufacturer’s order clerk).
Fred died shortly after, during the first quarter of 1940. Hannah died several years later in 1960.
Sources:
England and Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915
West Yorkshire, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1935
1881 England Census
1891 England Census
1901 England Census
1911 England Census
British Army WW1 Service Records, 1914-1920
UK, Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919
cwgc.org.uk
England and Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915
1939 England and Wales Register
England and Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007