Then, like many other young men at the time; he was attracted to the British Army as a potentially better way of life, and one where he would at least get two meals a day and a chance to see the world.

[citation needed] Parr became an infantry scout with the 4th Middlesex, whose role was to ride ahead of the battalion on the march with a detachment mounted upon bicycles to detect the enemy, or points of military note, and then return with all possible speed to notify the Battalion's Commanding Officer as to what lay ahead.

With the Imperial German Army invading Belgium and France at that moment, Parr's unit took up positions near the village of Bettignies, beside the canal running through the town of Mons, approximately 8 miles (13 km) away.

[citation needed] On 21 August 1914, Parr and another cyclist were sent to the village of Obourg, just northeast of Mons, and slightly over the border in Belgium, with orders to locate where the Germans were.

The unveiling ceremony being attended by about 300 people, including local dignitaries and Parr family members, one of whom read a letter from his mother to the War Office written in October 1914 enquiring about his fate.

Nor was he the first British soldier to lose his life in the conflict, as several had been killed by friendly fire and accidental shootings after the declaration of war but before troops were sent overseas, beginning with Cpl.