Frederick William Holmes

He saved a wounded soldier and helped bring a gun to safety.

Frederick William Holmes grew up in south London and joined the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in 1907. Recalled from the reserve in August 1914, he reached France with the British Expeditionary Force.

At Le Cateau on 26 August 1914, Holmes carried a wounded soldier away under heavy fire. Later he replaced a wounded artillery driver and helped bring a gun out of action. These deeds earned the Victoria Cross. France also awarded him the Medaille militaire for separate assistance to French troops.

He was commissioned in 1917 and served in India and Mesopotamia before discharge to the reserve in 1921. Returning to service during the Second World War, he became a lieutenant and assistant recruiting officer in April 1941. He undertook administrative duties until ill health ended his Army service in June 1943, then served with the Observer Corps until the end of the war. Afterwards he worked for an engineering company. He emigrated to Australia in 1960 and died at Port Augusta on 22 October 1969.

Victoria Cross citation, London Gazette, 24 November 1914, page 9958:

At Le Cateau, on the 26th August, carried a wounded man out of the trenches under heavy fire, and later assisted to drive a gun out of action by taking the place of a driver who had been wounded.