FREDERICK HOLMWOOD

Private, 1151, 'C' Company, 4th Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment
Died 29 May 1915, aged 26
Buried in Forest Row cemetery
 

Forest Row Cemetery
(Click to enlarge)

Frederick Holmwood was born in Hartfield in 1889 and lived at 2, Spring Meadow, Forest Row in 1911. He was an under gardener. His father Alexander James Holmwood, born in 1852 in Speldhurst, Kent, was a stock cowman. His mother, Mary (née Bridgeland), was born in 1851 in Withyham, Sussex. They were married in 1872 at St. Michael's Church, Withyham. Frederick had three sisters and five brothers, including George and Harry. Harry signed the Forest Row Memorial Book. George moved to Rotherfield and was listed as a gardener in 1911. He was married and does not appear to have served in the war. He had a daughter, Grace.

In May 1914 Frederick married Florence Harding. Florence came from Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex, and in 1911 was listed as a servant living in London Road, East Grinstead. After the war she re-married, marrying Reginald Venn in 1922, and died aged 89 in 1981. She moved to Tadworth in Surrey.

There was a military hospital in Forest Row at the time and it is likely that Frederick died there.

The 4th Battalion Royal Sussex Regiment on 24 April 1915 transferred to the 160th Brigade in the 53rd (Welsh) Division. They moved to Cambridge and in May 1915 on to Bedford. The battalion does not appear to have been serving overseas at the time of his death.

Frederick is remembered with honour in Forest Row cemetery, commemorated on Forest Row war memorial, and also commemorated in the Forest Row book of remembrance.

Carol O'Driscoll