Name
Bertie H Holes
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
29/07/1916
25
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
14144
Bedfordshire Regiment
6th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ST. SEVER CEMETERY, ROUEN
B. 34. 19.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Ardeley Village Memorial, St Lawrence Church Memorial, Ardeley, Not on the Stevenage memorials
Pre War
Bertie was the son of George and Marie Holes (Maud in some records) and born in Ardeley, circa 1892.
In 1901 the family was living in the Cottages, Ardeley Bury. The family, consisting of George - a gamekeeper, Maria and children: George (19), James (11), Bertie (9), Grace (7), Alfred (5) and Victor (4).
In 1911 the family, Bertie is amongst the absent, and the family listed included married daughter Elizabeth Beal, Grace, Alfred and Victor
Bert is recorded at born in Stevenage and living there when he enlisted in Hitchin.
Wartime Service
He arrived in France on the 11th August 1915. On the 15th July 1916 the Battalion were involved in an attack on the village of Pozieres by 112th Brigade from trenches South of Contalmaison. The Battalion were held up by hostile machine guns, and established itself about 100 yards from the cimitiere and dug in. Casualties 35 Killed, 25 Missing and 183 Wounded. It is presumed that Bertie Holes was amongst the wounded and was taken to the Military Hospital at St. Sever, where he died two weeks later as a result of his wounds. Bertie is buried in the St. Sever Cemetery, Rouen, France.
In July 1917 his mother, sisters and brothers published an "In Memoriam" in a local newspaper:
The blow was bitter, the loss severe,
To lose the one we love so dear;
It was God's will it should be so,
By His command we all must go.
Additional Information
www.stevenageatwar.com
Acknowledgments
Jonty Wild, Derry Warners
Paul Johnson
