Pte 38097 Henry Holdship

• Age: 27
• From: Salford, Manchester
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Sunday 30th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

Henry was born in Salford in the third quarter of 1889 the son of Henry Holdship and his wife Marcella (nee Byrne). The couple had married in 1878. His father was born in Manchester, and his mother in Salford. Henry was the youngest of their three children, and the only boy. Gertrude was born in 1879 and Marcella Ann in 1883. The family was Roman Catholic.

The family were living at 46 Zebra Street in Salford at the time of the census in 1891. His father, Henry senior, is aged 41, and is a  railway porter and his mother, Marcella, aged 34 is a draper. The couple have three children: Gertrude aged 12, Marcella 8 and Henry junior aged 1.

By the time of the 1901 Census the family are living at 5 Brighton Street, Salford. His father is a 52 year old railway porter and his mother is aged 42. Henry is 11 years old and has two sisters Gertrude 22 and Marcella 18 who are working as warpers in a cotton mill.

In 1911 the family have moved and are now living at 68 Tatton Street, Salford. His father aged 61 is still working on the railway and his mother is 54. They advise that they have been married for 33 years and have had three children. Henry is 21 and listed as out of employment, invalided. His sisters Gertrude aged 32 and Marcella aged 28 are still working in the cotton mill as warpers. 

Henry senior died later in 1911 aged 60.

Henry junior enlisted in Salford and was serving in the 17th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 38097 when he was killed in action on the 30th July 1916, aged 27, at the village of Guillemont, France, during the Somme Offensive.

17th Battalion Diary 

The Battalion was in support to 19 & 20 Battalions K.L.R. 2 Coys. behind 19th & 2 Coys. behind 20th. Very thick mist. The attack was pushed home to the objective in places but in the main was held up by machine gun fire from hidden machine guns.

Fighting continued all day swaying backwards and forwards until by 6pm about 300 yards in depth had been gained & consolidated all along our front.

Casualties in the 17th Battalion were 15 Officers and 281 Other Ranks

Further details are reported in more detailed by Everard Wyrall in his book The History of the King’s Regiment (Liverpool) 1914-1919 Volume II 1916-1917

The 17th King’s had advanced (two companies each behind the 19th and 20th Battalions) in small columns. They too suffered heavily from machine-gun fire and were quickly absorbed into the waves that preceded them. They also shared the gains and losses of that terrible day.

When darkness fell on the battlefield the 30th Division held a line from the railway on the eastern side of Trones Wood , southwards and including Arrow Head Copse, to east of Maltz Horn Farm. On this line the division was relieved by the 55th Division during the early hours of the 31st July. 

The events of 30th July 1916 were regarded at the time as Liverpool’s blackest day. There follows an extract from The History of the 89th Brigade written by Brigadier General Ferdinand Stanley which gives an indication of the events of the day.

Guillemont

Well the hour to advance came, and of all bad luck in the world it was a thick fog; so thick that you couldn’t see more than about ten yards. It was next to impossible to delay the attack – it was much too big an operation- so forward they had to go. It will give some idea when I say that on one flank we had to go 1,750 yards over big rolling country. Everyone knows what it is like to cross enclosed country which you know really well in a fog and how easy it is to lose your way. Therefore, imagine these rolling hills, with no landmarks and absolutely unknown to anyone. Is it surprising that people lost their way and lost touch with those next to them? As a matter of fact, it was wonderful the way in which many men found their way right to the place we wanted to get to. But as a connected attack it was impossible.

The fog was intense it was practically impossible to keep direction and parties got split up. Owing to the heavy shelling all the Bosches had left their main trenches and were lying out in the open with snipers and machine guns in shell holes, so of course our fellows were the most easy prey.

It is so awfully sad now going about and finding so many splendid fellows gone.       

Henry was reported killed in the Liverpool Daily Post 12th Sept 1916: 

Killed. 

King’s(Liverpool Regiment) Houldship, 28097(sic), H. (Salford); 

His body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme.

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916.

On 01st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”

On the 22nd August 1916 his family published a notice in the Manchester Evening News:

HOLDSHIP – killed in action July 30th, Henry, the beloved son of Mrs Holdship and the late Henry Holdship, 16 Oxford Street, Regent Road, Salford. From his sorrowing mother and sisters:

Thy purpose, Lord, we cannot see

But all is well that’s done by thee.

His Army pay and a War Gratuity of £3 went to his mother, who was awarded a pension of 10/- a week from February 1917.

In 1939 his mother, 83, was still at 16 Oxford Street, with Gertrude, 60, and Marcella, 56.  His mother died on 05th June 1940, aged 84. 

Her death was reported in the Manchester Evening News on 07th June 1940: 

HOLDSHIP—On June 5, at 16, Oxford-street, Salford 5, MARCELLA, beloved wife of the late Henry HOLDSHIP, aged 84 years, fortified by the rites of Holy Mother Church, on whose soul, sweet Jesus, have mercy. Requiem St. Joseph’s, Salford, Monday, 9 a.m., followed by interment at Weaste Cemetery. 

Sadly Henry has not been found on any memorial in the U.K.

We currently have no further information on Henry Holdship, if you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.