Lt. Cecil Braithwaite Parsons
1st Regt., South African Infantry
Killed in action on 16 July 1916 at the age of 31
Remembered with Honour, Thiepval Memorial
Cecil Braithwaite Parsons was born in Australia in 1885 to Lucy Jane and Henry John D Parsons.
In the 1901 Census he was at Bedford Modern School, Boarding House
1 Waldeck Avenue, Bedford, United Kingdom.
Cecil Braithwaite Parsons, Henry and Lucy’s third child, moved to South Africa as a young man and lived at Elsenburg near Stellenbosch.
The Elsenburg Agricultural Training Institute was established in 1898 and was the first center for agricultural training in Africa. In the Republic of South Africa, the Institute has secured an eminent track record in agriculture, especially in the field of agricultural training.
Upon the outbreak of war, he joined the South African Infantry in which he was Commissioned as a lieutenant. He was killed at the Battle of the Somme on the 16th of July 1916.
He traveled to England from Cape Town on 9th. September er 1915 on board SS Durham Castle along with 1750 other South Africans on their way to the war.
They arrived at Tilbury Dock, London on 12th. October 1915
A newspaper report of his death read “Lieut. Parsons, who was a fine, stalwart officer, gallantly led an attack on a German trench and was the first to sprint over the parapet. He was later found grasping his revolver, with the German officer in charge of the trench also lying dead a short distance away. Lieut. Parsons, previous to going to France, served throughout the German South-west African campaign.”
He was Killed in Action, at Delville Wood.
Brigadier-General Lukin was ordered to support the attack of the 11th Royal Scots [27th Brigade] on the orchard, situated in the northern sector of Longueval, between North Street and Flers Road. The Scots would attack along North Street while B and C Companies of the 1st SAI would attack northwards in the wood, parallel to the Royal Scots. The South African attack also failed. The enemy fire scythed down the advancing troops.
