Private Joseph Parker
Number: 9368
Company: 46th (Belfast), 13th Battalion
ENLISTMENT
Date: 1 January 1900
Place: Belfast
Age: 29 years 6 months
Trade or calling: Farmer
Place of birth: Parish Eastfield Farm, Town Belfast, County Antrim
Family: Father James, mother Evalina, elder brother Tom, elder sister Mary, all at Eastfield Farm, Templepatrick, County Antrim. Single.
Previous military service: No
Description: Height 5' 7 1/4". Complexion fresh, eyes brown, hair brown.
Religion: Other Protestant
ACTIVE SERVICE
Date to South Africa: 3 March 1900
Campaigns: South Africa 1899-1901
Service medal, clasps and other awards: South Africa Medal; Cape Colony and Orange Free State clasps.
DEATH
Date: 31 December 1900
Place: Imperial Yeomanry Hospital, Deelfontein, South Africa
Cause: Accidental poisoning
Buried/ commemorated: Buried in Deelfontein Cemetery
Parker was slightly wounded during the fighting at Lindley at the end of May 1900, when he and around 400 others were captured by Boer forces. He was released on 30 August with the other members of the 13th Battalion when the British captured Nooitgedacht.
An account of his death was given below, in the Belfast Weekly Telegraph of 2 February 1901:
SAD DEATH OF A BELFAST VOLUNTEER.
On Monday night, the 31st of December, a few minutes before the close of the nineteenth century, a sad accident occurred at Deelfontein Yeomanry Hospital to Trooper Joseph Parker, one of the Volunteers in A Company, which was the first company of Imperial Yeomanry to leave Belfast in January last. Trooper Parker, who had been in hospital for some time, on the night mentioned at eight minutes to 12 o'clock by mistake drank a quantity of carbolic acid in some spirits for water. The unfortunate youth took the poison out of a jar, which was upon a table, and trank the liquid. The mistake was discovered immediately, and medical aid quickly summoned, and although all was done by the doctors Parker breathed his last a few minutes past 12 o'clock, 1901. The funeral took place on the following day, the coffin draped in the folds of the Union Jack, being carried on the shoulders of four of the deceased's comrades. Behind with arms reversed and saddened mein marched a detachment of officers and men, and the procession ended with a gathering of interested people, white and black. The procession moved towards the little cemetery with its gleaming white crosses, all of which appeared to have been recently erected. A guard of honour with fixed bayonets presented arms, the Union Jack was removed, and the black coffin borne within the gate. The last rays of the departing sun lit up the scene as his companions tenderly lowered the mortal remains of their comrade into the grave. The beautiful Church of England service was read by the Rev. J. Blackbourne, who concluding with the Lord's Prayer, in which English, Dutch, and Kaffirs joined aloud. Then before the grave was closed came a thrilling moment. The 'Last Post' shrill and loud and almost triumphant rang out the last salute. This is the moment when the highest honours are paid to poor Tommy, and every head was uncovered and everyone stood to attention in honour of the last remains of 'a soldier of the Queen.' The silvery notes of the bugle died away over the veldt; the guard reformed silently, and still with that wonderful military precision and discipline the procession returned to the camp. By the grave stood the kindly sisters of the hospital with wreathes of leaves and flowers of the country for the grave of the yound Irish soldier who has died far away from his home, his family, and his friends.
Deelfontein Cemetery
Image sourced from the New Zealand War Graves Project site.
This page last updated 21 July 2024.