Parkinson, JH

2nd Lieutenant James Herring Parkinson

Born on May 9^th 1885 in Collingham, Yorkshire, James was the fourth child of Ada Parkinson and her husband, Walter, an auctioneer. During the 1890s the family moved south, and after spending time at St. Cyprian’s School in Eastbourne, James came to Dulwich in 1899. Having been a pupil for three years he left in the summer of 1902, going on to spend the following two years working in the office of Donald Currie & Co., a shipping line. Having left their employ he went to Ceylon, where he spent some time as a tea planter, subsequently moving to Travancore in southern India, becoming the superintendent of the Koramvatabalam Estate.

When war was declared in the summer of 1914 James was on leave in England, the first time he had been back for over eight years, and he at once signed up as a member of the 8^th Service Battalion, Rifle Brigade, before shortly afterwards transferring to the Royal Flying Corps. It was with the R.F.C. that he went to the front for the first time, in January 1915, and spent the rest of that year serving in France as a member of the 7^th Squadron. In January 1916 he returned to England to take up a commission in the Lincolnshire Regiment, returning to France with his new unit shortly afterwards. On July 2^nd 1916 he was killed in action during the taking of Fricourt Wood, on the Somme.