A SOLDIER killed in the Battle of the Somme has been laid to rest more than a century after he fell. Private Henry Parker died on 26 September 1916, three days prior to his 23rd birthday, as 5th Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment progressed in their advance on Flers.
Private Parker’s burial took place the Warlencourt British Cemetery and was organised by the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC), part of Defence Business Services, and conducted by The Reverend Jonathan Wylie CF. Twenty family members were in attendance and soldiers from The Yorkshire Regiment provided the bearer party and fired a salute. Lt Col David O’Kelly, Regimental Secretary, stated: “[Henry] was an inspiration to his comrades then, and is still an inspiration to those who serve in the Regiment now. We will remember him.”
Henry Parker was born on 29 September 1893 in Weaverthrope, near Scarborough. He enlisted on 8 January 1915 and deployed to France that November. For much of his service, he was deployed along the Ypres Salient, but in August 1916 his battalion was redeployed, with other units of 50th Division, to the Somme, the battle there had raged since 1 July.
On 15 September, Parker’s unit, 5th Battalion, the Yorks…
