Second Lieutenant Archibald Clare HOLLAND (1906)

1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment
Born 1 April 1888 in Switzerland
Killed in action 27 July 1916, aged 28
Commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France.

Archie Holland was the youngest son of Dr James Frank R Holland, who was British Consul for the Engadine, and Jeanette Calder, née Potts, of 6 Queen Anne’s Gardens, Bedford Park, Chiswick, London.

He was educated at Harrow School, where he played Fives and Rackets, and in Neuchâtel. Whilst at Merton he captained the University Tennis Team for 1910/11. After university he joined the firm of Rothschild’s.

He enlisted in the Public Schools and University Corps in September 1914, and was later commissioned into the Bedfordshire Regiment as a Subaltern. He went to France in January 1916, and served for some months in the 10th Entrenching Battalion.

He was killed in action by the bursting of a shell, at Delville Wood near Longueval, on the night of 27 July 1916. His last words to his Captain were:

Carry on, old man, don't worry about me. I'm all right.