Private. 6th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment. Service no. 26061.
Early life:
William Norman Holt was born in Oakworth in 1894, his birth being registered at Keighley in the second quarter of the year. His parents were William Holt and Nancy Holt née Wright who were married in 1890 at St. Peter’s Church on South Street in Keighley. At the time of his birth they were living at 65, Oakworth Hall with his maternal grandmother Christiana Holt, so it’s likely that he was actually born in a home birth at this address.
In 1901 he was six years old and living at 65, John Street in Nelson, Lancashire with his parents and siblings who were Harold aged ten; Frank aged eight, Charles aged five and sister Gertrude aged just one. His father William was a steam engine fitter in the census in April 1901, but he died later in the year at the age of thirty-four and his death was registered in Burnley in the last quarter of the year.
By 1911 he was sixteen years of age and still living at 65, John Street in Nelson with his widowed mother, two brothers and one sister and he was working as a cotton weaver. In fact everyone with a job at this household was a cotton weaver and it’s likely they were all employed at the Brierfield Cotton Mill which was the closest to John Street, although there were three others within a short walking distance from their home, these were the Lob Lane Shed, Pendle View Shed and Meadow Bank Mills.
War service:
William was living in Nelson when he enlisted there in mid 1916. He trained with the 3rd Battalion East Lancashire Regiment, then served with the 6th Battalion East Lancashire Regiment in Mesopotamia and was more than likely involved in the Second Battle of Kut on February 23, followed by the advance to capture Baghdad on 11th March 1918, although he was actually killed in action on 7th March 1918, four days before the fall of the city.
Post war:
He has no known grave and is remembered on panel 19 of the Basra Memorial.
He was posthumously awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal for his war service.
His mother Nancy received his outstanding back pay of £4 17s 8d on 3rd November 1917 and a war gratuity of £3 on 23rd October 1919. She would have received his medals after the war along with a memorial plaque and scroll in his memory.
She also received a dependant’s pension of 4 shillings and six pence per week which ran from 25th September to 15th October 1917, followed by 9 shillings and six pence per week, for the rest of her life.
Remembrance:
William’s name is not remembered on any memorial anywhere in the Oakworth area, and to date we have not located his name on any memorial in the Nelson area.
His name was added to Oakworth’s Great War Centenary roll of honour, which was placed on display at Oakworth Community Hall in November 1919.
