Lives of the First World War

Their grandparents had moved to Portsmouth in the 1870s from Weymouth and Wyke Regis Dorset. Richard was a sailmaker employed in H.M. Dockyard Portsmouth. Maurice Victor Parsons was the son of Richard George Parsons (Joiner H.M. Dockyard Portsmouth) and his wife Adelaide Julia Walters. Maurice was born in 1895 he enlisted in 1915 and trained with the Royal Engineers Railway Operating Troops Division at Longmoor, Hampshire. So far it not been possible to locate any R.E. ROD War Diaries to establish where he served in France or Belgium. The only clue following his arrival with the BEF in France in 1916, was a posting R.O.D., R.E. 26th B.G.O. Coy. He had 14 days leave to UK on 5 June 1918, which was the day his father died. It is not known if he reached Portsmouth to attend the funeral on 8 June 1918. Following being admitted to the 10th Canadian Stationary Hospital in Calais for a month in early 1919, he returned to England on 26 September 1919. The following week he returned to work for Southern Railway at Fratton Station in Portsmouth. He married Constance Mary Beecher and he died aged 47 and is buried in Milton Cemetery, Portsmouth. His wife Connie remained a widow for almost 50 yrs. Frank Thomas Parsons and William Morris Parsons were sons of Francis Parsons (R.N. Painter) and Mary Elizabeth Parsons nee Thomas. Frank and William were born a year apart in Portsmouth in February 1894 and 1895 They were both in Military Service before War broke out. Both were discharged from active service with TB. Frank Thomas Parsons enlisted in 1909 as a boy of 15 in the Royal Garrison Artillery. He returned in 1918, married Mabel Julia Clear in 1919, not long before he died in 1920 in Portsmouth. William Morris Parsons enlisted in 1912 aged 17 years in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He returned in 1917 as Corporal. He became an Admiralty Civil Servant and married Dorothy Walter in 1939. It is not known if Frank or William had any family.

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