Families in High Town received war relics during a visit from Australian relative Major Frederick Parkes, who had never previously been to England but whose father [Frederick Charles Parkes] was a Lutonian emigrant.

Major Parkes, who was in command of Australian troops, brought battlefield souvenirs from Gallipoli and France to relatives Mrs Waller, of 53 Frederic Street, to Mrs Sturgess, of 61 North Street, and to Cassie Waller, the little granddaughter of Mrs Tarrier, of 151 North Street.

Major Parkes was one of the last to leave Gallipoli and was twice buried alive there, but had miraculous escapes. He afterwards went to France and had been in the Somme offensive.

For some years his cousin Mrs Waller had corresponded with him and it was natural that, being on leave in England for Christmas, he should visit her in Luton, where he had been during the holidays. He gave her two souvenirs - one a helmet made by an Australian soldier out of an 18-pounder shell to which had been fixed the Australian badge and buttons from a tunic,with a copper band from a German shell to represent the strap.

The other souvenir was a representation of a butter knife made from a German cartridge and a piece of copper which came with a German shell. The metal was already marked like the blade of a butter knife.

Major Parkes took a great liking to little Cassie, a motherless child whose father was in hospital as a result of wounds. He placed on her wrist his own watch which was with him throughout the Gallipoli campaign. With that gift was a card bearing the inscription: "This watch was used at the evacuation of Anzac, and left Lone Pine at 1.5 am on December 18th, 1915. A present to Cassie with love from cousin Fred."

[The Luton News: Thursday, January 4th, 1917]