Name
Laurence Guy Holt (MC)
26 Aug 1894
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
27/09/1916
22
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Captain
The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
3rd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Military Cross
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
WARLENCOURT BRITISH CEMETERY
VII. J. 43.
France
Headstone Inscription
REST
UK & Other Memorials
Aldenham School Memorial, Aldenham, Bushey Town Memorial, St James’ Church Memorial, Bushey
Pre War
Laurence Guy Holt was born in 1894 and christened on 26 August 1894 in Otford, Kent. He was the third son of Horace William and Alice Margaret (née Guy) Holt. His parents were married in 1890 in the registration district of Chelmsford.
Laurence spent his early childhood in Reigate before moving firstly to Watford and then to Bushey. He was educated at Aldenham School from 1908 to 1913 and gained a Foundation Scholarship to Trinity College, Oxford.
At the 1901 Census, he is six years old and living in Woods Park Road, Reigate with his 40-year-old father, who is working as a shipping agent (and is identified as an employer), his 37-year-old mother and seven-year-old brother, Jesse. Also present is an Ellen West, their 23-year-old cook. The birthplaces are given as Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire for Horace, Walthamstow in Essex for Alice and Otford in Kent for both boys.
By the time of the 1911 Census, the family had moved to Wiselieises (spelling unclear) in Watford, but Laurence is not present. Horace is still working as a shipping agent and he and Alice have now had four children, one of whom had died. There is a note stating this was due to “supposed drowned in Australia, but not actually proved”.
Laurence’s two surviving brothers are also present; 19-year-old James Frederic and 4-year-old Horace John Crispin. James is employed as a shipping agent, presumably working for his father’s business. Both of the boys were born in Kent; James in Bromley and Horace (Jnr.) in Orpington.
Also present are two domestic servants; a nurse called Annie Brandon and a cook called Alice Poole.
Wartime Service
When war broke out, Laurence immediately joined the Bedfordshire Regiment as a Private. He later received his commission as Lieutenant and was transferred to the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment.
On 4 February 1916, at Lillers, a small town in northern France, a Field General Court Martial was convened and Lieutenant Holt, then aged 22, was one of four presiding officers at the trial of Private William Hunter, a soldier from his own regiment. Private Hunter, aged 18, had enlisted two years earlier by lying about his age. He was found guilty of desertion but the court strongly recommended mercy on the grounds of extreme youth and service in the field. Cases of desertion in his battalion had been unduly high and Private Hunter’s military record was not good. On 16 February 1916, General Douglas Haig counter-signed Private Hunter’s death sentence:
“I recommend that the death sentence be put into execution. The man is very young but his Commanding Officer says he is no good as a fighting soldier.”
Private William Hunter was shot at dawn on 19 February 1916 by a firing squad from his own regiment. He was one of 306 soldiers shot for cowardice or desertion during the First World War. Many were suffering from shell shock and several were under age. In 2006, following a campaign in the High Court, a pardon was granted and all these soldiers are now commemorated at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. Immediately behind the monument there are 306 wooden stakes are driven into the ground, each bearing a plaque engraved with the soldier’s name and details.
Lieutenant Holt was promoted to Captain and in July 1915 gained the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry. “He went out with a sergeant and brought in a wounded man from a shell hole in full view of the enemy. On the previous night he took up a machine-gun on his own initiative to the head of a sap and helped to beat off an enemy counter attack”. (Ref: West Herts & Watford Observer October 1916).
He was listed as "Wounded" on the Casualty List issued by the War Office from 25th January 1916.
Laurence was killed in action in France on 27 September 1916 near Eaucourt l’Abbaye. He was one of 163 Old Aldenhamians and Masters who gave their lives in the Great War.
He is remembered with honour at Warlencourt British Cemetery and is commemorated on the Bushey Memorial, at St James’ Parish Church in Bushey, and on the memorial in Aldenham School, Elstree.
His medal record card gives the address for his father as Finch Cottage, Bushey, Herts.
Laurence’s will is catalogued in the National Probate Calendar of 1917 and states “Holt Laurence Guy of Trinity College Oxford lieutenant (acting captain) Loyal North Lancashire Regiment died 27 September 1916 in France Administration London 8 February to Horace William Holt shipping agent. Effects £269 14s 7d.
Additional Information
Information provided with the kind permission of Bushey First World War Commemoration Project – Please visit www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk
Acknowledgments
Neil Cooper, Andrew Palmer
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild, Tony James
