The Queens Own Royal West Kent R

The Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment

Captain R B Holland

Inscription - "BE THOU FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH AND I WILL GIVE YOU A CROWN OF LIFE"

Photograph by "Ben"

Captain Ralph Bertram HOLLAND, "B" Company, 7th Battalion, Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment, killed in action, 2nd October 1916, age 25.

22nd December 1890, born Bexley, Kent, son of William Thomas and Elizabeth Anne Holland, of The Gables, Bexley, Kent.

11th March 1891, St John the Evangelist, Bexley, Kent, baptism of Ralph Bertram Holland, son of William Thomas, (Company Director), and Elizabeth Anne Holland, of Bexley.

1911 Census - The Gables, Bexley, Kent - William Thomas Holland, head, age 54, married, Director of Public Companies, born Bloomsbury, London; Elizabeth Anne Holland, wife, age 57, married 29 years 5 children, 4 still alive, born Othery, Somerset; Percy Estcourt Holland, son, age 24, single, student R.I.B.A., born St Martins in the Field, London; Ralph Bertram Holland, son, age 20, single, Solicitors Articled Clerk, born Bexley, Kent; Alice Esther Kirk, servant, age 41, nurse domestic, born Burnham, Norfolk; Jenny Frances Parsons, servant, age 28, cook domestic, born Paddington, London; Lillian Mable Rapham, servant, age 21, under housemaid domestic, born Dartford, Kent; Letitia Janette Finch, servant, age 18, kitchen maid domestic, born Farningham, Kent.

Husband of Marcia Holland (nee Saunders), of 40, Fitz James Avenue, Kensington, London.

3rd August 1914, enlisted.

1916 June, Paddington Registration District, married Marcia Saunders.

12th December 1916, Probate - Holland Ralph Bertram of The Gables, Bexley, Kent, Captain Royal West Kent Regiment died 2nd October 1916, in France. Probate London 12th December to Marcia Ellen Holland widow, and Archibald Robert Boult, solicitor. Effects £325 2s 1d.

Buried at Mill Road Cemetery, I. G. 1., Thiepval, France. Commemorated at St Mary's Church, Bexley & Harrow School Register.

London Gazette 3rd February 1915.

The dates of appointment of the temporary Second Lieutenants shewn in the under mentioned Units are as now stated, and not as previously notified in earlier Gazettes.

The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment, 7th Battalion. - R B HOLLAND. Dated 3rd September, 1914.

London Gazette 16th April 1915.

The Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment). 7th Battalion.

Temporary Lieutenant Ralph B. Holland to be temporary Captain. Dated 13th. March, 1915.

OBITUARY

Youngest son of the late William T. Holland and of Mrs W.T. Holland, of The Gables, Bexley, Kent. Married in 1916, Marcia, only daughter of the late W. Saunders, and leaves one son.

Became a freeman of the City of London in March 1913, and was admitted a Solicitor in April 1914.

Captain Holland enlisted on 3rd August 1914, in the Inns of Court O.T.C., together with his three brothers. Early in the following months he obtained a commission as 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal West Kent Regiment, was promoted Lieutenant in November 1914, and Captain in March 1915. He went with his battalion to France in the following July, and there received the command of his Company. He was the Officer in charge of the party of Royal West Kents mentioned in Sir Douglas Haig's Despatches as having held out for forty eight hours in Trones Wood. He was killed in action at Thiepval on October 2nd, 1916.

His Commanding Officer wrote:-
"What can I say ? I have lost a dear and treasured friend. The Battalion has lost one of the very best and most valuable Officers it has ever had, or is likely to have, and B Company, believe me, is dazed. Poor old Ralph was just coming out of his dug-out when a shell burst and fractured his spine, and he died within half an hour, without recovering consciousness."

A brother-officer wrote:-
"Few men have accomplished more than he did during the short period he was in the Army; he covered himself with glory, and I can believe that his skill and heroism in Trones Wood will go down to history as one of the finest incidents of the War."

Another wrote:-
"He accomplished much in his short lifetime, and his achievements will live for all time. Many an older man would feel proud to have done a little of what he did."

Another wrote:-
"I have always felt, with all his fun and gaiety, he had a vein of deep earnestness. He was brave and true, and would not have wished a different death."

This page was last updated on 05-Aug-2021.