2537 Private Harold
William Parkinson was a patient at Beechland House in 1917. He was there not
due to wounds but due to sickness. His entry in Nurse Oliver’s album reads:
Rifleman Harold Parkinson
Post Office Rifles
Better known as
Bronchial Billy. Feb 28th 1917
[ha’penny stamp stuck in book]
By gum
Its stuck. HP
There is also
a group photo of hospital patients pasted onto this page and it is possible that Harold is one of the many unidentified patients
there. Nurse Oliver is certainly pictured (back row, third from left) as is the
matron, Miss Marshall, who sits at the front with a small dog on her lap.
Harold Parkinson
enlisted on 9th
September 1914 and arrived in France with the Post Office Rifles (the 1/8th London Regiment) on 18th March 1915. He was overseas for just over one year, returning
to England on 22nd March 1916, presumably as a result of sickness. He was discharged due to sickness
on 22nd April
1917.
His reference
to bronchial problems may indicate that he was gassed – he would certainly have been exposed to clouds of gas at the
Battle of Loos in which the 1/8th London Regiment took part, and probably after that as well.
The National Archives
gives two army numbers for him; the second one: 370722, (which was allocated to him when the Territorials were re-numbered
in early 1917), falls within the range of numbers allotted to the Post Office Rifles.
Sources and Acknowledgements
- The National
Archives: Medal Index Card reference: WO 372/15
- The National
Archives: Medal Roll: 1914/15 Star: Roll
TP/40 B: Page 39: WO 329/2866
- The National
Archives: Medal Roll: British War & Victory Medals: Roll
TP8/101B Page 67: WO 329/1918
- The National Archives: Silver War Badge: Roll TP/1147: WO 329/3162
- The Long, Long Trail
