1/1st Battalion, Herefordshire Regiment
Arthur Vincent Holman was born in 1877 at Prestbury, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, the eldest child and only son of George Christopher and Fanny Amy (known as Amy) Holman (née Hulbert). He had four siblings, Alice, Daisy, Elsie and Nora.
He married Elsie Wilkins, daughter of Frederick William and Caroline Emily Wilkins (née Mayer), in 1908 at Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
William Holman, his paternal Grandfather, was a livery stable keeper and successful horseman who saddled three Grand National winners between 1856 and 1860. William was a leading member of the Cheltenham National Hunt racing set and, as a rider, was successful in the Grand Annual Chase on that course no fewer than five times between 1841 and 1852. William Holman’s Great Granddaughter was Diana Holman who married Herbert ‘Frenchie’ Nicholson. ‘Frenchie, and their son David ‘the Duke’ Nicholson, were both successful jockeys and trainers. As teenagers, Arthur’s father, and Uncles John and William, trained horses at Cleeve Hill Stables, and George and John later became assistant livery stable keepers. By 1891, Arthur’s father, George, was Manager of a farm in Prestbury, and he died on 16 March 1896.
Arthur’s home address was given as Hampton House, Colwall, Herefordshire. He was a volunteer in the active service company of the old Cheltenham Rifles, and volunteered for service with the 2nd (Volunteer) Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment during the South African War (the Second Boer War), rising to the rank of Sergeant.
During the Great War he was a Captain, with seniority from July 1911, in the 1/1st Herefordshire Regiment, a Territorial Army Battalion based in Hereford. He served with the Welsh Division in Gallipoli in 1915, and later in Egypt.
Arthur was at home on sick leave and died, age 40, of pneumonia at the home of his uncle in Bayshill, Cheltenham on 9 January 1917. He left his widow, Elsie, who was residing at Melfort, All Saints Road, Cheltenham.
He is buried with his mother, Amy, in the east side of St Mary’s Church, Prestbury, near Cheltenham. Amy died on 8 July 1917, age 62. His grave is located at the foot of another family grave with a memorial dedicated to his father, George Christopher, and sisters, Elsie May and Alice Beatrice (Trixie), all of whom pre-deceased Arthur.
In October 2004, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) agreed to liaise with the Prestbury Parochial Church Council (PCC) and seek their permission to erect an official headstone on his grave in due course. It transpires that Prestbury PCC provided final approval for the headstone on 3 May 2007, and the memorial was installed in July 2009.
Arthur is commemorated on the south panel of the Cheltenham War Memorial, situated in the Long Gardens, in the Promenade, Cheltenham.
Arthur’s photograph, shown above, appeared in the Gloucestershire Graphic on 13 January 1917.
Researched by Baden Russell July 2009
I wish to thank and acknowledge, the following: Dave and Jimmy James, for their website ‘Leaving Cheltenham’ and Joe Devereux and Graham Sacker, for their book ‘Leaving All That Was Dear’.