Name
Benjamin Holt
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
11/07/1916
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
18619
Bedfordshire Regiment
2nd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 2 C.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin War Memorial,
St Mary's Church Roll of Honour, Hitchin
Pre War
Born in and resident of Hitchin he enlisted in Bedford. His home was 6 Union Path, Hitchin.
Wartime Service
Benjamin was given the Regimental Number 18619 in the 2nd Battalion of the Bedfords. He was initially reported as missing but later as killed in action at Trones Wood in France. At the time of his death the Battalion was part of the 30th Division in the 4th Army.
The 2nd Bedfords went to the front near the Briqueterie which had just been captured, the South Africans being on the left in Bernafray Wood and the 17th Liverpool on the right. The undergrowth in Trones Wood was very dense and it was difficult to keep direction and control. His death coincides with an attack whereby the Battalion established a firm foothold in Trones Wood, but in the process lost over a quarter of the Battalion as casualties. It was a long day of intense fighting.
He has no known grave and is remembered on Pier and Face 2C of the great Thiepval Memorial to the Missing in France.
Acknowledgments
Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Jonty Wild
