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Gnr Henry "Harry" Holden
British Army 11th Brigade Royal Field Artillery
(d.13th Apr 1918)
Henry Holden, served as a Gunner with 11th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. and later as a Private with 2nd Battalion, Irish Guards. 11th Brigade RFA had arrived in France from India in September 1914 but Henry did not arrive in France until the 7th November that year. Henry had seen some service in India before the First World War.
Henry served for the majority of the war with the Royal Field Artillery and only transferred to the Irish Guards in February 1918. It was not uncommon for soldiers to be compulsorily transferred to different regiments from 1916, but it is not common to see a transfer between corps, in this case a transfer from the corps of artillery to the infantry. Remember too, that Henry was a career soldier and a career artilleryman. However, the destruction of Henry's papers by German bombing in September 1940 almost certainly destroyed the last hope of ever ascertaining why he transferred to the Irish Guards in February 1918. He was certainly home in the UK in August 1917, possibly as a sick or wounded soldier, as evidenced by his marriage certificate.
