SERGEANT 6476 HAROLD HOLT 18th HUSSARS. KILLED IN ACTION 13th MAY 1915



On 13th May 1915 29 year old Sergeant Harold Holt was killed in action near to the village of Vlamertinge, Ypres. Harold was a reservist who was recalled to his regiment, the 18th Hussars, in August 1914. By 1915 this cavalry regiment no longer fought on horseback but manned the trenches. On the day of his death, at 3.30am, his regiment came under heavy artillery fire which lasted for 7 hours. Thirty two men, including Harold were killed that morning, only a few of the bodies were ever recovered. Harold Holt was born in Bradford but before the war lived with his uncle Thomas Lister Nelson at 45 Leeds Road, Ilkley, who employed him as a slater. Sgt Holt is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres and on Ilkley War Memorial



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