Edward "Ned" Parfett MM Enamel Pin Badge
The newsboy was Ned Parfett, born in 1896, and one of four brothers from Cornwall Road, Waterloo. Tragically, six and a half years after this picture was taken, Ned was killed while serving with the British army in France. He was 22.
Ned enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery in 1916, serving as a despatch driver then moving onto reconnaissance duties. He was awarded the Military Medal and mentioned in despatches for his gallant conduct during a series of missions at the front.
He died on 29 October 1918, just two weeks before the end of the war, when a shell landed on the Quartermaster’s stores as he was picking up some clothes before going on leave. After his death, the officer who recommended Ned for special recognition wrote to one of his brothers:
‘On many occasions he accompanied me during severe shelling and I always placed the greatest confidence in him.’
Ned Parfett is buried in the British war cemetery at Verchain-Maugré in France.
We Will Remember Him
20mm x 25mm
Butter Fly Clip
©ASA 2023