P*RR*TT Civilian War Dead
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission https://www.cwgc.org ) lists a number of P*RR*TT civilians who were killed by enemy action during the Second World War. Over the next few pages, we examine their stories and if members can expand further, we would be delighted to hear from you.
PERRETT Emily (62), Ada E. (35) and Samuel Edward (31)
HOLMES Prudence Mabel (27), Royston William (4)
The Paragon in the Walcot area of Bath is a street of Georgian houses. At the time of the 1939 Register, the PERRETT family were one of three households living at 30 The Paragon. Emily’s husband, Samuel Henry PERRETT , had died in 1936. Their children Ada and Samuel, both single, still lived with their mother, along with their married sister Prudence who had a young son, Royston. Ada was a daily domestic, while Samuel worked as a general labourer. During the Bath Blitz over the weekend of 25-27 April 1942, numbers 28 to 32 The Paragon were damaged by bombing. Prudence died at home, the rest of the family were taken to the Royal United Hospital, where Emily and Ada died on 28 April 1942, Royston on 29 April 1942 and Samuel Edward on 8 May 1942.
PERRETT Harold (48)
Harold PERRETT married Elizabeth BROWN on 4 September 1920 at the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Regent Road, Salford. He the son of Tom PERRETT , a brass finisher, and was working as a Poor Law clerk at the time of his marriage. His ancestors were from the Withiel Flory, Brompton Ralph and Clatworthy PERRETT family. By 1939, Harold and Elizabeth were living at 14 Orient Road in Pendleton and he was working as an assistant steward in the municipal hospital. The probate calendar entry for Harold records that he was: “believed to have been killed through war operations on 23 December 1940 and whose dead body was found on 23 December 1940 at 91 Eccles Old road Salford” Salford”. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website gives Harold’s place of death as Hope Hospital. Perhaps his body was taken there after being discovered … can any of our members who have researched this family shed any light on this?
PERRETT Andrew
Andrew PERRETT was born in Australia. He was at Rabaul, Papua New Guinea when it fell into Japanese hands in 1942. Allied POWs and civilians were leaving Rabaul on a Japanese auxiliary ship, the SS Montevideo Maru, when it was torpedoed by the American submarine Sturgeon on 1 July 1942, unaware that the ship was carrying Allied POWs and citizens. Andrew was among over 1,000 people who lost their lives.
PARROTT Frederick George (51)
Frederick George PARROTT and his wife Ellen lived at 24 Lynn House, Friary Estate. Frederick was killed at the Lynn House Air Raid Shelter near Peckham Park Road on 14 October 1940, when 380 German bombers hit London, the heaviest night attack of the war to date. Frederick George PARROTT, son of Henry PARROTT , a decorator, had married Ellen SERVANT on 12 April 1914, although the Find A Grave website has her maiden surname erroneously recorded as PRICE. There appear to have been eight children born to this couple, all with their mother’s maiden name recorded as SERVANT. Another inconsistency here is that Frederick’s occupation was ‘printer pressman’ at the time of the 1939 Register, however Find A Grave suggests he was a cabinet maker. It may be the details for two different people have been confused here.
Many more are listed in the September issue of Family Notes.