This man is a candidate for addition to Keighley's Supplementary Volume under the proposal to add further names in 2024, the centenary of the original roll of honour.
Click here to go to the Main page
Supported by the National Lottery's Heritage Fund, our project intends to submit about 120 names for peer review to add them to the book which is kept at Keighley Library. The unveiling of the book with it's new names is planned for November 2024, 100 years after the unveiling of the original war memorial.

Private. West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales' Own) Service number 208889.

Early life:

Harold's parents were William Holmes and Mary Ann Holmes née Wilkinson, who were married at Christ Church in Oakworth on 24th December 1892. At the time William was a 21 year old warp dresser and Mary Ann was the same age and a worsted weaver. They were living at Sykes Head in Oakworth.

Harold was born on 5th March 1900 whilst they were still at Sykes Head and his birth was registered at Keighley in the second quarter of the year.
In the 1901 census Harold was just one year old and had three sister, Ethel aged seven, Emily aged five and Annie aged three and their address was 6, Bogthorn which is on Oakworth Road. William was 28 and still employed as a cotton warp dresser. whilst Mary Ann is 29 years of age and looking after the family home.

Another sibling, Wilfrid was born on 9th July 1902.

On the 9th November the same year, Harold and his younger brother Wilfrid were baptised in the same ceremony at Christ Church in Oakworth.

In 1903 the Holmes family moved from Bogthorn to 23, Sykes Head. They moved to 8, Apsley Street in 1906 and then in 1908 they moved to 30, Cliffe Terrace off Hainworth Wood Road at Ingrow where they were living in the 1911 census.

The family had grown a bit by the census and the children were: Ethel aged 18 and Emily aged 15 were both worsted spinners; Annie was 13 and a worsted doffer. Harold aged 11, Wilfred aged nine and Richard aged four were all at school. The youngest child was Horace who was just five months of age. The census also records that William aged 39 and Mary Ann aged 39 had been married for 18 years and produced seven children, none of whom had died.

War service:

Harold's headstone in Oakworth Cemetery.

Harold was too young to serve at the outbreak of war and even by 1918 he was still under the age for overseas service. However he could be enlisted and trained as a soldier, providing he was 18.
The Army had brought in the 51st and 52nd Graduated Battalions and the 53rd Young Soldiers battalion and Harold would have been enlisted into their training structure and he would have been at the large Army camp at Cannock Chase. His birthday was on 5th March, so it would have been some time after the 5th March 1918 and he enlisted at Halifax, probably at the Wellesley Barracks, home of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment.
Once fully trained and old enough to serve overseas he would have been sent to a regiment and eventually, overseas. By the time Harold had finished his training he would have been expected to serve overseas in the Army of occupation in 1919.

For a full explanation of what their training, please visit Chris Baker's excellent page on the training regime, linked here: Syllabus of infantry training for Junior Training Reserve, Young Soldier and Graduated Battalions.

However, Harold died before he could serve overseas as he died of pneumonia on 7th July 1918, at the 3rd Northern General War Hospital in Sheffield. This was likely to be connected with the influenza epidemic at the time. His death was recorded at Sheffield and at that time he was with the 5th Training Reserve Battalion in the West Yorkshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own) and his service number was 20889. He was just 18 and his body was brought home to his family. He is buried in Oakworth Cemetery, plot C, grave 33 and is marked by a headstone of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission as befitting someone who died whilst in the service of his country. His parents added a personal inscription which reads: 'Peace, Perfect Peace.'

Post war:

Harold's name on the Ingrow War Memorial.

His parents were resident at 9, Hazel Street, Ingrow in Keighley. His name is inscribed on the Ingrow War memorial in front of St. John's Church.

There are dependant's pension records available and they show that his mother Mary Ann Holmes received a payment of 9 shillings per week for life, beginning on 17th January 1919. BY this time the family had moved to 20, Woodville Terrace off Hainworth Wood Road, Ingrow in Keighley.
In the soldier's effects record, Harold's father William was his next of kin and he received Harold's remaining pay, which amounted to £3 10s 9d on 14th October 1918.

Harold is remembered on his grave at Oakworth Cemetery and he is also named on the Ingrow War Memorial.

In the 1921 census Harold's parents and siblings were living at 20, Hainworth Wood Road, Ingrow.
We could not pinpoint precise death records for William and Mary Ann Holmes but we found a possible record for William dying aged 56 in 1928, registered in Keighley.

Information sources:

West Yorkshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1813-1935
England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915
West Yorkshire, Non-Conformist Records, 1646-1985
1901 England Census
West Yorkshire Electoral Rolls
1911 England Census
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919
Army Registers of Soldiers' Effects, 1901-1929
England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007
World War I Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923
1921 Census Of England & Wales