- See Alan Parker’s entry on the Board of Trade’s Ancestry public tree.
- This information updates the group’s previous research published on the former DTI website (now archived by the National Archives).
- Do you have any more information about Alan Parker? If so the War Memorial Research Group would love to hear from you
Name recorded on Board of Trade Memorial: A. Parker
Born: About October 1897, Hackney, London
Date of Death: 23 September 1917
Age at death: 19
Service, Regiment, Corps, etc: London Regiment
Unit, Ship, etc: 10th (County of London) Battalion (Hackney) and previously Queen Westminster Rifles, London Regiment
Enlisted: August 1914
Rank: Second Lieutenant (Service No: Unknown)
Decorations: WW1 Service Medals (Victory Medal and British War Medal)
War (and theatre): WW1 (France and Flanders)
Manner of Death: Killed in Action (KIA)
Family Details: Son of William and Jane A Parker, 125 King Edward Road, South Hackney, London. Brother of Colin Parker, who also worked for the Board of Trade and died whilst prisoner of war in 1918.
Residence:
Home Department: Board of Trade – Finance Department
Civilian Rank: Boy Clerk
Cemetery or Memorial: Menin Gate (Panels 52-54); Board of Trade War Memorial; WW1 memorial to the 1/10th, 2/10th and 3/10th Battalions, London Regiment at the Church of St John-at-Hackney
Biography:
Alan and his brother Colin both worked for the Board of Trade and both died in WW1. This is Alan’s story.
Alan Parker was born in about October 1897 in Hackney, London. He was baptised on 1898 at the St John of Jerusalem Church, South Hackney. His parents were William Parker (1845-1936) and his mother was Jane Ann Spry (1857-1943). Alan had three brothers – Norman John Parker (1894-1955), Colin Parker (1896-1918) and Ivan who died infancy in 1899 and a sister, Annie Parker (1893-1991). His father was a printer (overseer) and had previously been twice married and twice widowed – first to Ellen Brown (1842-1869) and then to Elizabeth Louisa Mitchell (1835-1889). Alan also had a half sister called Ellen or Nellie Parker (1869-1948) who was the daughter of William’s first marriage. Nellie was already married in July 1893 by the time of the birth of her younger half siblings.
The Parker family lived at 125 King Edward Road, Hackney, London and this is their recorded address in both the 1901 and 1911 censuses.
We know that prior to WW1 he was a Boy Clerk in the Finance Department at the Board of Trade.
We have not been able to locate Alan’s WW1 military papers or index records but know that he enlisted in August 1914 in the 16th (Queen’s Westminster Rifles) Battalion, London Regiment and was later commissioned as a Second Lieutenant into the 10th (County of London) Battalion, London Regiment. According to Murphy’s Register, he is listed, with photograph, in Sphere (180126, page 94).
Serving with Queen’s Westminsters he would have been trained at Leverstock Green in late summer and autumn of 1914 (where the battalion are commemorated by a stained glass window memorial. It’s likely that he would have landed in France with the battalion on 3 November 1914 landing at Le Havre.
We don’t know when exactly Alan was commissioned, but we do know that on 7 July 1916, the 1/10th and 3/10th Battalions, London Regiment were transferred to the Rifle Brigade.
Given the date of his death, Alan would died fighting during the Third Battle of Ypres (also known as the Battle of Passchendaele) which lasted for 3 months 1 week and 3 days in the region of the Ypres Salient. It was one of the most controversial battles with horrendous casualty numbers fought in atrocious conditions for little territorial gain.
Alan is known to have died on 23 September 1917 aged only 19 years old. He has no known grave and is named on the Menin Gate, located in Ypres, Belgium which was designed by the British architect, Sir Reginald Blomfield. The memorial bears 54,896 soldiers names who were all went missing in action from the start of WW1 up until 15 August 1917 – a staggeringly sombre statistic. In their memory and in honour of all those who died in WW1, the Last Post is played at the Menin Gate every night at 8pm.
Alan is also remembered on the Board of Trade War Memorial in London. He is also remembered by the WW1 memorial to the 1/10th, 2/10th and 3/10th Battalions, London Regiment at the Church of St John-at-Hackney. The WW1 memorial which was unveiled on 8 August 1921 commemorates the lives of 13,000 local men (including Alan) who were killed in action.
Board of Trade War Memorial 