53rd (Young Soldier) Battalion, Devonshire Regiment
Donald Walter Parker was the youngest of three children born to Donald and Elizabeth Parker who lived in Forest Green having both been born locally.
Donald was baptised at Inchbrook, Nailsworth on 23 December 1900, his father being a labourer.
The family were living at Forest Green at the 1901 Census and Donald (senior) was listed as an umbrella stick varnisher.
By the time of the 1911 Census, Donald (senior) was working at the saw mills and 14 year old Norman was a barber’s assistant.
There are no surviving service records for Donald but he cannot have been with the army for many months as it can be assumed he enlisted aged 18
He was attached to the 53rd (Young Soldier ) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment.
The battalion formed part of the 8th Brigade and moved to Rollestone Camp, Wiltshire in January 1918.
The Register of Soldiers’ Effects states that Donald died of ‘illness’ at the military hospital in Salisbury on 19 November 1918: he was aged 18.
The Nailsworth Town Council website states his death certificate gave the cause of death as influenza, pneumonia and cardiac failure. He was probably a victim of the ‘Spanish Flu’ pandemic.
There is a pension card which states the cause of death as influenza and pneumonia.
Elizabeth Parker was awarded a pension of £5 per week with effect from 27 May 1919. Her address was given as Selsley View, Lightspill, Stroud.
Donald is buried at Forest Green Congregational Chapel and has a CWGC headstone although this would appear to have been installed on a grave formerly marked with a private headstone but which due to weathering and deterioration, no longer properly commemorated him.
It does not appear that Norman Frederick Parker, Donald’s older brother served during the war but there is a death entry for a Norman Frederick Parker from Stroud who died aged 19 in 1916.
(Researched by Helen Wollington July 2021)