1963 Sgt William Eccles Holt, 1/5th King's Own (Royal Lancaster) Regiment

As the Somme battles raged in 1916, British soldiers continued to fall in their hundreds. Seven hundred and eighty-three British soldiers died on this day alone in 1916. Just pause to think of that number again: 783 men on one day - 10th September 1916.

1963 Sgt William Eccles Holt of the 1/5th King's Own (Royal Lancaster) Regiment was one of those 783 men to die on this day. He was 39 years old, the husband of Jessie Holt of 50 Belmont Road, Fleetwood in Lancashire.

William possibly had prior military experience. His number with the 1/5th King's Own appears to date to around August 1914. However, there is a surviving record in WO 363 for an 18 year old William Eccles Holt who joined the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment on 25th January 1897 (number 5443) and went on to serve during the Boer War before being discharged as a time-expired soldier in January 1909. This man, however, has his place of birth recorded as Blackburn, whereas Soldiers Died in The Great War notes the place of birth (and place of enlistment) as Fleetwood.

William's medal index card records his army service number as T5/1963 and notes that he arrived overseas on 14th February 1915.

William Eccles Holt is buried in Delville Wood Cemetery in Longueval; grave reference IV.G.3.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

Sources:

Ancestry.co.uk (MIC, WO 363)
Army Ancestry
Army Service Numbers 1881-1918
Commonwealth War Graves Commission