Spr. Melville Parsons 195492

Spr. Melville Parsons

93^rd Battalion/ 4^th Pioneer Battalion

Regimental Number 195492

Melville Joseph Parsons, along with a twin sister, was born on August 29^th, 1895 in Dummer Township, Ontario. He was the son of George and Eliza (Reynolds) Parsons.   The Parsons are shown to have lived in Dummer until at least 1911.

Melville was living near Lakefield and employed in farming when he enlisted with the 93^rd Battalion on January 12^th, 1916.  He was 20 years old, stood 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighed 127 pounds.  Melville was described as having a dark complexion, hazel eyes and dark brown hair.  He was a member of the Church of England and was unmarried with no previous military experience.  Doctors noted that he had a small scar between his eyes.

Melville was considered medically fit for service and joined the Peterborough 93^rd Battalion which was training in the city that winter while it recruited up to strength.  When the unit neared complete strength, it left the city by train for the Canadian forces training camp at Barriefield, Ontario at the end of May 1916.  Melville and his battalion had only been at the camp five days when a call came out for volunteers to transfer to the Pioneer Battalion, which brought with it the promise of a more recent trip overseas than with the 93^rd.  Melville was one of fifty men who volunteered and was then one of twenty-one out of those, who was selected to transfer.

Pte. Parsons continued to train as a pioneers in Canada for the next three months.  Pioneers worked in conjunction with the Canadian Engineers in forward areas in varied work that included consolidating positions captured by the infantry, tunnelling, mining, wiring, railroad work, deep dugout work and laying out, building and keeping trenches in repair.  During this time garnered a blemish on his good record when he forfeited six days’ pay for being declared “absent without leave “on the 22^nd of July.  He and his unit left Canada for overseas on September 12^th 1916 and arrived in Liverpool, England after a ten day crossing.

He was transferred to the Canadian Railway Transport Depot CRTD in Crowborough on December 2^nd.  It was nearly two weeks before he was assigned to the 2^nd Battalion Canadian Railway Troops on the 18^th of December, and another month before he proceeded to France for service.  He landed in France with the Railway Troops on January 13^th, 1917.  Sapper (a rank equivalent to a Pte. In the infantry) Parsons served in France for the duration of the war, except for a two week leave to the U.K. granted from February 13-March 3^rd of 1918.   His service file indicates that he was employed in the trade of farrier, someone who trims and shoes horse’s feet.  After the war’s end he was transferred to England on January 19^th 1919 to await demobilization first at the Canadian Railway Troops Depot at Witley Camp, then to Kimmel Park in North Wales on May 21^st, 1919.  It is interesting to note that it was at Kimmel Park on February 14^th that Melville Parsons was given approval to marry.

Melville Parsons returned to Canada and was formally discharged from military service on September 10, 1919.  He later traveled west to Napinka, Manitoba where he raised a family.  Melville passed away on December 30, 1969.

Sources

Archives of Ontario. Registrations of Births and Stillbirths – 1869-1913. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Series: MS929; Reel: 128; Record Group: RG 80-2.

Library and Archives Canada. Census of Canada, 1901. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Year: 1901; Census Place: Dummer, Peterborough (East/est), Ontario; Page: 6; Family No: 51.

Library and Archives Canada. Census of Canada, 1911. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada: Year: 1911; Census Place: 19 - Dummer, Peterborough East, Ontario; Page: 2; Family No: 15.

Canada. "Military Service File of Melville Joseph Parsons." Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa: Record Group 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 7616 - 16. Item Number 571204.