Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The Memorial Plaque awarded to Major V. Holden, D.S.O., M.C., Royal West Kent Regiment

Memorial Plaque (Vernon Holden) in card envelope of issue, nearly extremely fine £180-£220

Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, September 2002 (when sold alongside the recipient’s medals and other ephemera).

D.S.O. London Gazette 16 September 1918:
‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during an enemy advance. When his battalion was surrounded he withdrew his company with marked skill through the enveloping enemy, and collected men near him and formed a new line of defence. Throughout his fine leadership and coolness under most difficult circumstances were of a high order.’

M.C. London Gazette 9 January 1918:
‘For gallantry and devotion to duty on the night of 31 July / 1 August 1917, when he organised the consolidation of his battalion front under heavy machine-gun and rifle fire, continually going to and fro to advanced Battalion H.Q. through heavy fire to report personally upon the situation. All the officers were casualties, and his courage and personal example were of the utmost value.’

Vernon Holden was born on 7 January 1893 at Cultowrth, Banbury, and was educated at Sir Henry Fermor’s School and at Skinner’s School in Tunbridge Wells. On leaving school, aged 17, he joined the staff of the local branch of the London County, Westminster and Paris Bank, later moving to their Maidstone Branch.

He enlisted into the Army in August 1915, becoming a Lance-Corporal in the King’s Royal Rifle Corps in September. Two months later he was commissioned into the Royal West Kent Regiment; departing for France as a 2nd Lieutenant in May 1916. He saw action at the battle of Flers and was commended by the General of his Division for the ‘great coolness and initiative with which he took his position when all other officers had been wounded.’ Holden was quickly promoted to Lieutenant and then in March 1917 to Captain, winning his M.C. in the summer of 1917. After brief service on the Italian front he was appointed Commandant of the Brigade School in November 1917.

He returned to the Western Front in the Spring of 1918 at the time of the great German Offensive. He was awarded the D.S.O. for his leadership and courage in the fighting in the Albert Sector. In July, he received both the D.S.O. and M.C. from the King in an investiture at Buckingham Palace. In the summer he was promoted Acting Major and served as C.O. of the 41st Divisional Reception Camp. Returning to the front in the autumn, he was mortally wounded on 1 October 1918, dying the next day. He was buried at Hagle Dump Cemetery, Belgium.

In addition to his D.S.O. and M.C., Holden was Mentioned in Despatches by Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig (London Gazette, 28 December 1918).