John Rowland Parry – Royal Engineers

Sapper John Rowland Parry – Royal Engineers

Early Life and Family Background

John Parry and Winifred Elizabeth Seward marriage certificate Parish Church, Llangyfelach

John Rowland Parry was born in 1921 in Morriston, the son of John Parry and Winifred Elizabeth Seward, who had married at the Parish Church, Llangyfelach.

1921 Census

The 1921 Census records the young family living at 13 Strawberry Place, Morriston, where John Parry, aged twenty‑eight, was listed as a seaman mate employed by the S.S. Tirgdail of the Clecoe Western Valleys Collieries, though out of work at the time. Winifred Elizabeth, aged twenty‑three, managed the household, and their infant son John Rowland, just two months old, completed the family.

1939 Register

By the 1939 Register, the Parrys had moved to 112 Parc Avenue. John Parry was employed as a steel erector, Winifred carried out unpaid domestic duties, and their son John Rowland, now eighteen, worked as a riveter labourer, reflecting the industrial character of Morriston on the eve of war.

Military Service – Royal Engineers

John Rowland Parry later entered wartime service as a Sapper with the Royal Engineers, one of the Army’s most versatile and technically skilled corps. Royal Engineers personnel were responsible for construction, demolition, bridging, transport, and a wide range of essential military engineering tasks across Britain and overseas.

John Rowland Parry
Morriston Cemetery
credit - findagrave

Death in Derby and Burial

John Rowland Parry died on 16 January 1943 in Derby, marking one of the earliest military losses recorded in Swansea that year. His death came only months after he had married Margretta Williams, a union tragically cut short by wartime circumstances.

John’s body was brought home to Swansea and laid to rest at Morriston Cemetery, his grave marking the first military burial of 1943. He remains one of the many young men whose lives were shaped—and ultimately claimed—by the demands of wartime service.