Name
Robert Holder
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
15/08/1917
28
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
40527
Essex Regiment
9th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
DUISANS BRITISH CEMETERY, ETRUN
VI. B. 57
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
St Albans Citizens Memorial, Town Hall (old) Memorial, St Albans, Albert Street Memorial, Street Memorial, St Albans
Pre War
Address given as 39 Albert Street, St Albans.
He was the son of Robert & Jane Holder of Albert Street. His father was local Bricklayer and he was one of six children, attending school in the area. On the 6th August 1910 Robert married Florence Ethel Deacon in Frogmore, Hertfordshire. At which time he was employed as a Carman, a job that involved the delivery and collections of goods and parcels. The couple lived at 39 Albert Street, St. Albans.
Wartime Service
With the outbreak of the Great War Robert enlisted in the British Army, eventually being posted to the 9th Battalion, Essex Regiment. He arrived in France in August 1916, as a replacement for those lost in the opening stages of the Battle of the Somme.
By October 1916 the Battalion, part of the 36th Brigade, 12th (Eastern) Division, were on the outskirts of Arras where they took part in the opening stages of the battle.
15th August 1917
It was whilst training was taking place in the Sword Lane area that eight men injured by the accidental explosion of a grenade, three of whom died on the day as a result of their injuries, and one who died on the 18th August. These were: Major Edwin Baskerville HICKOX, Lieutenant Frederick Elliott BRASTED – Died of Wounds on the 18th August, 34937 Private Charles Henry LAWRENCE and 40527 Private Robert HOLDER.
All four men were taken to No.8 Casualty Clearing Station at Agnez-Les-Duisans where they died as a result of their injuries. They are all buried next to each other at Duisans British Cemetery, Etrun, France, and they were all aged 28.
Died of wounds.
Acknowledgments
Gareth Hughes, Paul Johnson, Jonty Wild
