Major Peter Parker (deceased)

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Major Peter Parker was born on 9th March 1918 and died on 24th June 2011, aged 93. His father, the tenth son of the 6th Earl of Macclesfield, was 57 when he was born. As his grandfather was born on 17 March 1811, three generations of Parkers spanned 200 years! After attending Eton and New College, Oxford, Peter was commissioned as a Regular officer in The Kings Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC) soon after the start of the Second World War. He was posted to 2 KRRC and in May 1940 was captured at Calais while serving as a platoon commander in C Company. Peter spent the next five years as a prisoner-of-war during which he and his fellow POWs were regularly moved; first to Laufen in Bavaria, next to an underground fort in Poland, then to Warburg in Westphalia. Caught digging an escape tunnel, they had to crawl out to face the guards. In 1943 Peter was moved to Eichstätt where he and 64 other POWs temporarily escaped by tunnelling under the perimeter fence. Quickly recaptured, Peter was placed in the dungeon of a nearby castle before receiving the ultimate punishment and prisoner accolade of imprisonment in Colditz Castle in eastern Prussia. There he found himself incarcerated with a number of Green Jacket officers, including Martin Gilliat, Mike Sinclair, Phil Pardoe and Gris Davies-Scourfield, members of 2 KRRC who had also been captured at Calais. Outwitting the Guards at Colditz was a major preoccupation. Peter had a part in one incident. The Escape Committee required a ladder. The prisoners broke a high window in the chapel. It was extremely cold so the Germans decided to mend it. A handyman with a guard brought a ladder to the window. While the handyman went to collect the glass, a prisoner started to writhe on the floor with a mouse up his shirt. A major disruption ensued and the guard was distracted. Immediately the ladder was stolen but it was too big to be smuggled up a spiral staircase. A saw was produced and two-thirds of the ladder was taken. The rest was put back. The handyman returned but now the ladder did not reach the window. A poltergeist was blamed. In May 1945 the Americans liberated Colditz. Released from captivity, Peter resumed his military career in autumn 1945 with 1 KRRC in Italy. In 1951 he attended the Staff College followed by two years in the War Office, before a posting to 2 KRRC in Münster. He subsequently retired from the Army in 1961 and committed himself to community life in Oxfordshire becoming a JP in 1962, a County Councillor (1967-74), High Sheriff of Oxfordshire in 1973 and a Deputy Lieutenant in 1974. Peter was a very modest man. He only spoke when he had something to say and, when he did speak, it was invariably succinct. His integrity shone through, as did his sense of humour and of fun. He never had an unkind word to say about anyone. He was a true English gentleman. Peter's wife, Rosemary, was a great-niece of General Sir Redvers Buller and inherited his estate at Downes, near Crediton, where their son, Henry, who served in The Royal Green Jackets from 1975-78, now lives. Peter's wife predeceased him in 1997. He is survived by his children, Henry and Belinda.

Christopher Wallace (from the Eulogy given by Brian Ford at Peter's Thanksgiving Service)

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