Harry Percival Holly

Story:
Harry Percival Holly was born on 1st September 1891 in Melbury Abbas, Shaftesbury, Dorset and baptised there on 13th December 1891, the son of Mark Holly and Harriett Holly (née Smith).   He lived his early life in and around Melbury Abbas.  He enlisted on 30th October 1915 and joined the Royal Garrison Artillery as a Gunner (Service No. 57735).  He served for some of the time in France with the 25th Fire Command and whilst there sustained a service injury to his right hand which eventually led to the amputation of his index finger.  This event led to him being in hospital for nearly three months.   He married Clara Beedles on 26th June 1917 in Chippenham, Wiltshire, and they went on to have two children.  He was eventually demobilized on 1st March 1919 and awarded the Victory and British War medals.  The 1921 Census shows him living at Wallend Cottage, Monkland, Herefordshire, working as a Cowman but by the 1939 Register he had moved to Stockmoor, Pembridge, Weobley, Herefordshire, and now described as a Munitions Worker.  He died on 3rd April 1983 in the Hereford Registration District.  

Harry's brothers also served in the war: Herbert John (b.1892) with the Dorsetshire Regiment, the Devonshire Regiment and the Hampshire Regiment; Ernest Walter (b.1895) died on 27th December 1918 while serving with the Royal Army Service Corps in Greece.