Second Lieutenant Charles Vincent Holder was born Battersea in 1885, the ninth of the eleven children of Edward Henry Holder (1847-1922) and Ann Fowler Holder née Seals (1847-1920). His birth was registered in the 3rd quarter of 1885 in the Wandsworth registration district. His father was a landscape artist.
In the 1891 census he was shown as living at 'Oak Hill', Chart Lane, Reigate, Surrey, with his parents and nine siblings: Annie Henrietta Holder (1869-1959), Edith Maria Holder (1870-1956), Clara Isobel Holder (1871-1949), Edward Henry Holder (1874-1900), Charlotte May Holder (1876-1939), Louis Lawrence Holder (b.1879), Lillian Constance Holder (1881-1912), Eva Grace Holder (1886-1967) and Frank Sidney Holder (1888-1892).
The 1901 census shows him living at 5 Hatchlands Road, Reigate, with his parents and six sisters: Annie, Edith, Clara, Charlotte, Lillian and Eva. His father was recorded as an artist and photographer. He attended Reigate Grammar School and from 27 January 1907 until January 1912 he was a student at the Royal Academy Schools. The 1911 census confirms that he was an art student living at 128 Wrottesley Road, Harlesden, with his parents, three sisters: Edith, Charlotte and Eva, together with a niece, Barbara Idyll Holder (1907-1975).
Immediately on the outbreak of World War One he enlisted as a Private in the 2nd (City of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), service number 1895. He entered France on 6 January 1915 and remained there until 25 October 1915. On 1 November 1915 he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the King's Shropshire Light Infantry and was serving in the Regiment's 5th Battalion when he was killed in action, aged 31 years, on 24 August 1916. As he has no known grave he is commemorated on Pier and Face 12A and 12D of the Thiepval Memorial, Rue de l'Ancre, Thiepval, Somme, France.
His parents were sent his army effects in three separate payments: £1-17-6d on 20 November 1916, £45-3s-0d on on 13 February 1917 and £3-12s-4d on 17 April 1917. They were also sent his £6-10s-0d war gratuity on 17 September 1919. He was posthumously awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal and these were sent to his sister, Miss Edith M. Holder at 414 Powis Square, Notting Hill, on 22 March 1922.
He is also commemorated on the Reigate Grammar School War Memorial, Reigate Rd, Reigate RH2 0QS and on the Borough of Reigate War Memorial, Reigate and Banstead Town Hall, Castlefield Road, Reigate, RH2 0SH,
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
