James George (Jim) PARSONS

Badge Number: 23894
23894

PARSONS, James George

Service Number: 5800
Enlisted: 12 August 1916, Adelaide, South Australia
Last Rank: Sapper
Last Unit: 3rd Tunnelling Company (inc. 6th Tunnelling Company)
Born: Eastbourne, Sussex, England, 25 September 1870
Home Town: North Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Miner
Died: Throat cancer (war service related - gas), Adelaide, South Australia, 2 March 1934, aged 63 years
Cemetery: AIF Cemetery, West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide, South Australia
Section: LO, Road: 4S, Site No: 27
Memorials: Flinders Park Staff of the South Australian Gas Company Roll of Honour, North Adelaide Christ Church Honour Board
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World War 1 Service

12 Aug 1916: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 5800, Adelaide, South Australia
25 Oct 1916: Involvement AIF WW1, Sapper, 5800, Tunnelling Companies, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '6' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Ulysses embarkation_ship_number: A38 public_note: ''
25 Oct 1916: Embarked AIF WW1, Sapper, 5800, Tunnelling Companies, HMAT Ulysses, Melbourne
6 Feb 1917: Transferred AIF WW1, Sapper, 3rd Tunnelling Company (inc. 6th Tunnelling Company)
19 Mar 1917: Wounded AIF WW1, Sapper, 5800, 3rd Tunnelling Company (inc. 6th Tunnelling Company), German Withdrawal to Hindenburg Line and Outpost Villages, Gas
22 Jul 1918: Discharged AIF WW1, Sapper, 5800, 3rd Tunnelling Company (inc. 6th Tunnelling Company)

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Biography contributed by Florence Drummond

In 1925 James built a home at 74 Gilbert Street  Bowden-on-Hill,

Records show in 1929 at the start of the depression he was no longer living there, and had lost everthing. By this time all the girls were working "in service" for the gentry and the only son an apprentice with the Government Printing Offices. At the time of his death he was living at 12 Taylor street Croydon.

James (Jim) Parsons only lived to know the birth of two of his nine grandchildren, and the marriage of two of his children.

I believe he was strict man, but then he had to be as he was left to care for his children after the death of his wife Jane, just 3 months after his return from active service in 1918.

Jim loved "old time" Music Hall and Vaudeville shows, and would often find threepence for these, even though things were very hard during the depression. Some of his grandchildren know 3 little songs he sang to his younger brood, who in turn passed them down.

Although a labourer all his life, he had served in the West Surrey Militia in the UK for 7 years and had tunnelling experience.

The family had migrated to Australia in 1912

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