2nd Lieutenant William Bertram Holwill

William was born in 1899. His father, Henry, was a local man having been born in Great Torrington in 1855; he worked as manager of the ‘brick and clay works’. His mother was born in 1863 in Lambourne, Berkshire. The 1901 census has the family living at 29 South Street, Great Torrington. The family also contains William’s sister and brother, Winifred and John, aged 13 and 11 years; both were born in the town. Annie Hammett from St Giles in the Wood, who is a domestic servant completes the household.

In 1908, William was enrolled at Bideford Grammar School and by the 1911 census he can still be found as a student. In fact, not too much has changed in the family by this time. A few notable points are that William’s sister, Winifred, is now working as an elementary teacher whilst his brother, John, has joined their father working as a clerk at the clay works. There are also a few additions to the household with the in-laws now residents; these being John and Laura Mallett. Ellen Skinner is now the domestic servant.

I have sourced some information from William’s life from the Royal Bank of Scotland 1914 – 1918 website [1]. I have noted that they state he was educated at Crediton Grammar School, although I have not been able to substantiate this. However, later newspaper reports state that William was also an ‘old boy’ of Devon County School at West Buckland [2]. The RBS remembrance website goes on to tell us that when William was 19 years old he began work with the National Provincial Bank of England in its Barnstaple branch and he remained with them up to leaving for war.

They go on to point out that William’s first military assignment was as a Private in the 28th (Artists’ Rifles) Battalion of the London Regiment. This is corroborated in the “Artists Rifles. Regimental Roll of Honour and War Record 1914-1919”. His Service Number was 762752.

During WWI, over ten thousand officers were commissioned after training with the Artists' Rifles. They went to the Foot Guards, every infantry regiment and to many of the Corps. The Royal Artillery alone had 953 officers and the London Regiment 738 officers commissioned from the Artists' Rifles. From the Rifles, William was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant with the 66th Machine Gun Corps.

In an attempt to break the winter stalemate and take the initiative, the Germans launched a 1918 spring offensive. Their aim was to gain an opposing foothold in the Allied lines to force them to the negotiation table before the United States forces were able to join the Western Front.

The German offensive consisted of four main pushes along the front. These were codenamed Michael, Georgette, Blücher-Yorck, and Gneisenau.The 21st March 1918 marked the beginning of the offensive. Thousands of soldiers comprising of 72 German divisions from 3 separate armies would advance of the British lines once the colossal artillery bombardment, including gas shells, had lifted. Helped by low lying fog, the German troops were able to push forward at staggering pace overwhelming the British front line troops. By the end of the day’s fighting, substantial German gain had been made. By the end of fighting on the 23rd March, two days later, the swarming attacking forces had made a forty mile breach in the British lines. The reserve forces were ordered to construct a rear defence line to shore up the seemingly unstoppable advance, such was the scale of the assault, the Germans had not only overrun the front line trenches, but they had also punched through the existing reserve sections.

The first day of Operation Michael remains the second worst day in British military history, surpassed only by 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme. By the end of the day on 21st March, British casualties numbered 38,500, including almost 21,000 British soldiers taken prisoner.

Among the prisoners taken in the lighting German advance was 2nd Lieutenant Holwill. Following conversations with the Artists’ Rifles Association, the information they’ve provided showed that he was captured near St Quentin, which would have been in the eye of the storm that day. Because of the confusion in the ‘fog of battle’ it was difficult to tell whether soldiers were missing, displaced, killed or captured. Initial reports had said that William was last seen firing his revolver as he was surrounded by the advancing German troops. It would not be the 8th April 1918 that his father would receive word, via a telegram, that William was missing in action [3]. They also noted that he had been on leave from France shortly before. The family’s home address was still in Torrington at the property ‘Sunnyside’.

By June, William’s family had received two postcards informing them that he was being held as a prisoner of war. It would not be until July the family would receive official confirmation that Henry had died as a prisoner of war from wounds he previously sustained [4].

William died on the 16th May 1910, he was aged 20. His grave can be found at the Avesnes-Sur-Helpe Communal Cemetery in the Nord area of France.

[1]www.rbsremembers.com/remembers/our-fallen/h/william-holwill.html

[2] Western Times. April 19th 1918. ‘Remember the Prisoners’

[3] North Devon Journal. April 12th 1918. ‘News of the West’

[4]Western Times. July 5th 1918. ‘Torrington Officer Makes the Supreme Sacrifice’