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| Private Walter Holden |
Died from pneumonia,
4th December 1918
Buried Etaples Military Cemetery.
Newsaper Report:
DIED FROM PNEUMONIA
Mr. and Mrs. Holden have received information that their son, Pte. Walter Holden, 5th Lancers, has died from pneumonia on the 4th December and was buried in the Military Cemetery, Etaples, France.
He enlisted in March, 1917, and has been in France twelve months, and in civil life was employed at Birtwistle's, Grane Road Mill, as a winding master. He was twenty years of age and was connected with the Grane Mission Church, Haslingden.
Newspaper Memorials:
In loving memory of Private Walter Holden, of 33 Parkinson Street, Haslingden, who was killed in France on July 15th 1918.
"A lonely grave abroad, where a brave young hero sleeps,
There's a cottage home in England where a mother sits and weeps.
It is only a mother that knows the sorrow,
It is only a mother that knows the pain,
Of losing her son she loved so dearly,
And knows that she will never see him again."
From his sorrowing Mother, Sister, and brother.
"Could we have spoken the last kind word,
Or seen you laid to rest;
The grief would not have been so hard,
For those who loved you best.
May the heavenly winds blow softly,
O'er that sweet and hallowed spot,
Though the sea divides his grave from us,
He will never be forgot."
From Father, Mother, Sisters and Brothers, 10 Hope Street, Haslingden.
"He was one of the noble thousands,
Who answered his country's call,
In years he was young, in strength he was strong,
And he gave up his life for us all."
From his dear brother Herbert and sister in law Annie.
"He was our friend, truly fond,
He was both good and true;
A better friend there never lived,
His equals were but few.
Some day we hope to meet him,
Some day we know not when,
To clasp his hand in the Better land,
Never to part again."
From his two sorrowing friends, Betsy and Ethel.
"We little thought when he left home,
He would no more return;
That he so soon in death would sleep
And leave us here to mourn.
Often we pause to think of you,
And think of how you died;
To think you could not say good-bye,
Before you closed your eyes."
From his sorrowing Father, Mother, Sisters and Brother, 10 Hope Street, Haslingden; also Brothers Thomas (serving in France) and Herbert (in Mesopotamia).
"I little thought when we said goodbye,
It would be the last parting between you and I;
I loved you in life, you are dear to me still,
But in grief we must bend to God's holy will."
From his Fiancee Maggie, 9 Hutch Bank.
"His pleasant face and kindly ways,
Are pleasant to recall,
He had a kindly word for each,
And died beloved by all."
From his Uncle and Aunt and Cousins, 87 Grane Road.
"I will not be long," he told us,
As he shook us by the hand;
But God has postponed the meeting,
Until we meet in the Better land."
From his Brother Herbert (in Mesopotamia) and Annie.
