A Collection of Medals to the South Wales Borderers

British War Medal 1914-20 (9860 A. Sjt. W. Pargeter. S. Wales Bord.) with named card box of issue in original registered envelope; together with Record Office enclosure, nearly extremely fine £60-£80

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Medals to the South Wales Borderers.

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William Pargeter was born in Stourbridge, Worcester in 1887, and attested for the South Wales Borderers at Brecon in 1908. Following the outbreak of the Great War Parkes was present with the 2nd Battalion stationed at China where they formed part of the international garrison at Tientsin.

In September 1914 the Battalion, supported by half a Battalion of the 36th Sikhs, joined their Japanese allies in an expedition against the German occupied territory of Kiaochow and its port of Tsingtao. On 23 September the battalion’s embarkation of 22 officers and 910 men landed at Lao Shan Bay about forty miles N.E of Tsingtao and began the difficult trek to the well fortified main German settlement on Kiaochau Bay which was the object of the expeditionary force. Casualties were generally light although the extremely arduous conditions and bad weather caused them great discomfort. The nights of 5 and 6 November, however, brought the battalion heavier casualties, including Pargeter, who was wounded.

Brigadier-General Nathaniel Barnardiston, Commanding Tsingtau Expeditionary Force gave the following details in his third Despatch:
‘On the 5th November I was ordered to prepare a Third Position of attack on the left bank of the river. This line was to a great extent enfiladed on both flanks by No. 1 and 2 redoubts, especially the latter from which annoying machine-gun fire was experienced. The bed of the river (a small stream running over a broad bed of sand) had also to be crossed, and in doing so the working parties of the 2nd Battalion South Wales Borderers suffered somewhat severely, losing 8 non-commissioned officers and men killed and 24 wounded.’

The siege was soon brought to a successful conclusion with the assistance of an assault by Japanese forces present and the white flag went up on 7 November 1914 giving the Regiment the unique distinction of a battle honour held by no other British Regiment. The Battalion’s losses overall had been just 14 men killed or died of wounds or disease and 2 officers and 34 men wounded.

Pargeter subsequently transferred to the 1st Battalion, and served with them on the Western Front. He was killed in action at Passchendaele on 10 November 1917, a day of heavy casualties for the battalion during the attack on the Goudberg Spur:
‘The men went into action after an exhausting march, the ground was as difficult to consolidate as it was to cross, adequate artillery support had been hard to assure… Zero was at 5:00 a.m. (November 10th) and for an hour before that a barrage was put down on and just behind the German front line. But the difficulties against which the artillery had to contend in that sea of featureless mud almost surpassed those of the infantry; it was hardly wonderful if the barrage was irregular, so that our own men ran into it when the advance started. This caused several casualties… On the right the men got forward better, establishing a post close to Vocation Farm and obtaining touch with the Canadians, while D Company dug in near Virtue Farm. Vox Farm, however, they could not reach, so heavy was the machine gun fire and sniping. Before long, too, hostile counter-attacks developed.’ (The History of the South Wales Borderers 1914-18 by C. T. Atkinson refers).

The attempt was ultimately unsuccessful and extremely costly, resulting in 372 casualties among the battalion’s men, well over two-thirds of those who took part. Pargeter was amongst those killed. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium.

Sold with copied Medal Index Card and other research.