Story:
Ernest Walter Holly was born in 1895 in Melbury Abbas and baptised there on 8th December 1895. He was the son of Mark Holly, a farm labourer, and Harriett Holly (née Smith) and was one of a family of eleven children.  At the time of the 1911 Census he was single, working as a farm labourer and living at Cann Common, Cann, Shaftesbury. He enlisted as a Driver in the Army Service Corps (Service No. T4/039638) and was a driver with the 798th Horse Transport Company. He served in Greece and was awarded the Victory and British War medals.  He died in Greece on 27th December 1918 of Bronchial Pneumonia and was buried at Dedeagatch British Cemetery, Alexandroupolis, Greece, (grave id. 69). The cemetery is associated with the No 31 Casualty Clearing Station. He is remembered on the Cann War Memorial, Shaftesbury. His mother was in receipt of a dependent's pension.

Ernest's brothers also served during the war: Harry Percival (b.1891) with the Royal Garrison Artillery and Herbert John (b.1892) with the Dorsetshire Regiment, the Devonshire Regiment and the Hampshire Regiment and both survived.