William Edward Parry
Title
William Edward Parry
Description
A biography with details of all of his life. He joined the RAF in 1940 and worked as ground crew.
Language
Format
Two printed sheets
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
Identifier
MParryWE1172401-220531-020001, MParryWE1172401-220531-020002
Transcription
WILLIAM EDWARD PARRY
Great Grandfather to [inserted] Red Shields [/inserted] Natalie Eichner and father to Auntie Annie and Grandma Judy.
Born June 2nd 1912 in Bebington. Cheshire.
He grew up with his elder brother George and his parents Arthur and Susannah (known as Polly) Parry. His father was a Station Master with the Great Western Railway and Station masters lived in the Station House right next to the railway so William, or Bill as he was known, grew up with trains going past his window!
When Bill was two years old the First World War began and lasted until he was six years old. He would have seen the sadness of the whole family when his Uncle Willy, brother to his Father, was killed fighting in the trenches in France. It was even more distressing because he died a week before the war ended and was only 32 years of age.
He left school at 16 years of age in 1928 and he became a Clerk in the offices of the Great Western Railway. By this time his father had become Station Master at Dorrington Station and relief Station Master at Shrewsbury Station in Shropshire and he was living in the station house at Dorrington with his parents and brother.
As a young man he enjoyed listening to music, skating on ponds in the winter, motor cycles and dancing. Every year he and his friends would go to watch the famous Isle of Man TT race and at weekends they would go dancing in the villages near where he lived. That is how he met Mary Elizabeth Beddoes, known as Betty, your Great Grandmother. They married in 1941, two years after the start of the Second World War.
The Second World War began in 1939 and men were called from their jobs to go and fight but your Great Grandfather was in a ‘protected’ profession which meant that he wasn’t expected to go and fight as the country needed their railways to keep running throughout the war.
He wasn’t married at that time and was working as a Parcels Clerk at Shrewsbury Station so he made the decision to leave his job and go and fight for his country. He had to ask the railway to release him and in 1940 he joined the Royal Air Force. During the war years he served in England and in France with Bomber Squadrons. He was in IX (nine) Squadron and he worked predominantely [sic] with Lancaster Bombers as ground crew, airframe and engine engineer and he even flew them when testing repairs.
He was Mentioned in Dispatches and he received an award for bravery known as the Oak Leaf.
One day when he was supervising the refuelling and loading of bombs and shells into a Lancaster, the men passing the explosives from one to another dropped one and it exploded. With the fuel going in it became an inferno and some of the men were engulfed in flames. Sergeant Parry ran into the flames and pulled the men out, saving their lives.
[page break]
After the war ended in 1945 your Great Grandfather returned to live with his wife who he had married four years earlier in 1941. She was living with his parents in Ludlow Shropshire. His father had been moved from Dorrington Station during the war to be Station Master at Ludlow Station. This was a difficult time for him. His first daughter (Auntie Annie) was born in December 1945 and his second daughter was born (Grandma Judy) in November 1946. They were all living in the Station House as there was not enough housing for men coming back from the war. Great Western Railway had to give him his job back but they sent him to work a long way from Ludlow so he could only see his wife and children at weekends.
Eventually, on December 31st 1949 he resigned from his job in the offices at Oakengates Station as he had found a new job in Ludlow as a Stores Manager for the Midlands Electricity Board. Shortly afterwards he and his family moved into a new house of their own in Ludlow.
He worked for over thirty years at the Midlands Electricity Board and during that time he also played cricket and tennis and he also enjoyed rifle shooting. He was Captain of both the Tennis Club and the Rifle Club at different times. He was a very talented rifle shot and competed regularly at Bisley where he won numerous awards and trophies.
He loved to travel and having restored an old Bradford Jowett van, built a trailer and rescued an old tent from the local Scout group, we travelled to France, Germany, Switzerland and Spain over the following years as well as frequent weekend visits to the Welsh coast.
His favourite food was Great Grandma Parry’s home cooking. He hated ‘foreign’ food which was anything with chilli or garlic in it!!
Once he had retired he loved visiting your Grandma Judy in the USA as well as travelling around England, Wales and Scotland in his touring caravan.
Cats were his favourite pet. The first cat was called Smutty.
Sadly, Great Grandma Parry died in 1986 and he was left alone for many years. He took up hill walking and explored miles of the Welsh border country before he died in 1996 with your Daddy and Auntie Annie at his side.
Great Grandfather to [inserted] Red Shields [/inserted] Natalie Eichner and father to Auntie Annie and Grandma Judy.
Born June 2nd 1912 in Bebington. Cheshire.
He grew up with his elder brother George and his parents Arthur and Susannah (known as Polly) Parry. His father was a Station Master with the Great Western Railway and Station masters lived in the Station House right next to the railway so William, or Bill as he was known, grew up with trains going past his window!
When Bill was two years old the First World War began and lasted until he was six years old. He would have seen the sadness of the whole family when his Uncle Willy, brother to his Father, was killed fighting in the trenches in France. It was even more distressing because he died a week before the war ended and was only 32 years of age.
He left school at 16 years of age in 1928 and he became a Clerk in the offices of the Great Western Railway. By this time his father had become Station Master at Dorrington Station and relief Station Master at Shrewsbury Station in Shropshire and he was living in the station house at Dorrington with his parents and brother.
As a young man he enjoyed listening to music, skating on ponds in the winter, motor cycles and dancing. Every year he and his friends would go to watch the famous Isle of Man TT race and at weekends they would go dancing in the villages near where he lived. That is how he met Mary Elizabeth Beddoes, known as Betty, your Great Grandmother. They married in 1941, two years after the start of the Second World War.
The Second World War began in 1939 and men were called from their jobs to go and fight but your Great Grandfather was in a ‘protected’ profession which meant that he wasn’t expected to go and fight as the country needed their railways to keep running throughout the war.
He wasn’t married at that time and was working as a Parcels Clerk at Shrewsbury Station so he made the decision to leave his job and go and fight for his country. He had to ask the railway to release him and in 1940 he joined the Royal Air Force. During the war years he served in England and in France with Bomber Squadrons. He was in IX (nine) Squadron and he worked predominantely [sic] with Lancaster Bombers as ground crew, airframe and engine engineer and he even flew them when testing repairs.
He was Mentioned in Dispatches and he received an award for bravery known as the Oak Leaf.
One day when he was supervising the refuelling and loading of bombs and shells into a Lancaster, the men passing the explosives from one to another dropped one and it exploded. With the fuel going in it became an inferno and some of the men were engulfed in flames. Sergeant Parry ran into the flames and pulled the men out, saving their lives.
[page break]
After the war ended in 1945 your Great Grandfather returned to live with his wife who he had married four years earlier in 1941. She was living with his parents in Ludlow Shropshire. His father had been moved from Dorrington Station during the war to be Station Master at Ludlow Station. This was a difficult time for him. His first daughter (Auntie Annie) was born in December 1945 and his second daughter was born (Grandma Judy) in November 1946. They were all living in the Station House as there was not enough housing for men coming back from the war. Great Western Railway had to give him his job back but they sent him to work a long way from Ludlow so he could only see his wife and children at weekends.
Eventually, on December 31st 1949 he resigned from his job in the offices at Oakengates Station as he had found a new job in Ludlow as a Stores Manager for the Midlands Electricity Board. Shortly afterwards he and his family moved into a new house of their own in Ludlow.
He worked for over thirty years at the Midlands Electricity Board and during that time he also played cricket and tennis and he also enjoyed rifle shooting. He was Captain of both the Tennis Club and the Rifle Club at different times. He was a very talented rifle shot and competed regularly at Bisley where he won numerous awards and trophies.
He loved to travel and having restored an old Bradford Jowett van, built a trailer and rescued an old tent from the local Scout group, we travelled to France, Germany, Switzerland and Spain over the following years as well as frequent weekend visits to the Welsh coast.
His favourite food was Great Grandma Parry’s home cooking. He hated ‘foreign’ food which was anything with chilli or garlic in it!!
Once he had retired he loved visiting your Grandma Judy in the USA as well as travelling around England, Wales and Scotland in his touring caravan.
Cats were his favourite pet. The first cat was called Smutty.
Sadly, Great Grandma Parry died in 1986 and he was left alone for many years. He took up hill walking and explored miles of the Welsh border country before he died in 1996 with your Daddy and Auntie Annie at his side.
Collection
Citation
“William Edward Parry,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed May 11, 2026, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/44368.