Pte 330854 William Lloyd Holmes

• Age: 36
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 19th Btn
• D.O.W Thursday 2nd August 1917
• Commemorated at: Etaples Mil Cem
  Panel Ref: XXII.N.25

William Lloyd Holmes was born in 1880 in Liverpool and was the son of Daniel Holmes and his wife Ellen (nee Lloyd). His parents married in 1865 at Our Lady and St Nicholas' Church, Liverpool.

On the 1881 Census they family are living at 24 Gomer Street, Islington, His father, Daniel, is a 33 year old labourer, his mother, Ellen, is 34 years of age. They have five children in the household; John 16, Elizabeth 8, Daniel 6, Dorcas 2, William L. 3 months all were born in Liverpool. 

He married Catherine O’Brien on  25th December 1899 at Our Lady and St Nicholas C. of E. Church, Liverpool, both were aged 19 years.

On the 1901 Census he is aged 26, a corporation labourer living at 1 Peover St, Islington. Only father Daniel 51, also a corporation labourer, and mother Ellen 46, are present.

His mother died in the June quarter of 1906, aged 51. 

The 1911 Census shows William and his family living at 21 Stonewall Street, Everton, Liverpool. William is aged 30, and is a paviors labourer with the city engineers department. His wife Catherine is aged 30, born 1881 and was previously a resident of New York, USA. They have been married for eleven years and have had six children of which three had sadly died. The surviving children are Mary aged 4, born 1907, Lily aged 2 born 1909 and John born 1900.

Also on the 1911 census his father Daniel 63, is now widowed and living with his married son John at 19 Peover Street.

Another son Henry was born in 1912.

William enlisted in Liverpool originally serving as Private 3057 of the 9th Battalion KLR. He reached France with the 9th Battalion on 12th March 1915. 

Following a transfer, he was serving in the 19th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private 330854 when he died of wounds at No.7 Canadian General Hospital, Etaples, on the 02nd August, 1917, aged 36. 

He now rests at Etaples Military Cemetery, France.

During the First World War, the area around Etaples was the scene of immense concentrations of Commonwealth reinforcement camps and hospitals. It was remote from attack, except from aircraft, and accessible by railway from both the northern or the southern battlefields. In 1917, 100,000 troops were camped among the sand dunes and the hospitals, which included eleven general, one stationary, four Red Cross hospitals and a convalescent depot, could deal with 22,000 wounded or sick. In September 1919, ten months after the Armistice, three hospitals and the Q.M.A.A.C. convalescent depot remained.

The cemetery contains 10,771 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, the earliest dating from May 1915. 35 of these burials are unidentified. It is the largest CWGC cemetery in France, and was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

William was awarded three medals the 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. 

Soldiers Effects and Pension to widow Catherine and children Mary, Lily and Henry.

His father died in the March quarter of 1919 aged 73 and had sadly spent some time in the Liverpool Workhouse prior to his death. 

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