In memoriam
Major Holt Waring
Major Holt Waring, J.P. D.L., husband of Margaret Waring of Waringstown, County Down. Holt Waring arrived in France on 2 March 1915 with D Squadron, North Irish Horse. He transferred to the 13th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles, then was attached to the 12th Battalion. He died of wounds on 15 April 1918, aged 41, and is buried at Wulverghem-Lindenhoek Road Military Cemetery, Heuvelland, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium, grave II.E.7. The gravestone inscription reads:
MAJOR
H. WARING
ROYAL IRISH RIFLES
15TH APRIL 1918
Holt Waring was head of an old and respected County Down family, and was brother-in-law of Lieutenant Samuel Barbour 'Barrie' Combe. He had served as a trooper with the North Irish Horse in the Boer War. Commissioned as a Lieutenant on 17th July 1903 and immediately promoted to Captain, he probably continued to serve in the Horse as a part-time officer, as shortly after the First World War began, he was promoted to Major. In October 1914 his brother, Lieutenant Commander Ruric Waring, was lost at sea when HMS Hawke was sunk by a German U-boat.
Major Waring joined the newly formed D Squadron of the North Irish Horse, which arrived in France on 2 May 1915, attached to the 51st (Highland) Division. Later than month he took command of C Squadron of the North Irish Horse, which had been in France since the beginning of the War. On 4 August 1916 Major Waring transferred to command a company in the 13th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles.
Major Waring led his men when the 36th Ulster Division and the 16th Irish Division attacked at the Battle of Messines in June 1917. Two months later, after promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, Holt Waring took over command of the 13th Rifles, when Colonel Maxwell was wounded at the Battle of Passchendaele. In November 1917, losses across the entire 36th Division, combined with few reinforcements, necessitated reorganisation within the Division. As a result, the 11th and 13th Royal Irish Rifles were amalgamated to form the 11th/13th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles. When it was disbanded in February 1918 owing to continuing losses, Lt Col Waring took command of 12th Royal Irish Rifles.
On 21st March 1918, the Germans launched a massive offensive. The 36th Division, and the 12th Royal Irish Rifles in particular, sustained heavy casualties. The survivors were then sent into the lines in the Ypres Salient in the area around Kemmel Hill, just as the Germans commenced an offensive in that sector. On the night of 12/13 April, Lieutenant Colonel Waring led a company of 12th Rifles in a counterattack, along with a company of the 9th Royal Irish Fusiliers led by the Lieutenant Colonel Philip Kelly. Their position restored, dawn brought more determined attacks by the Germans on the trenches held by the 12th Rifles. That attack, and others during the day, were repulsed. At dawn on 15 April, the Germans launched an artillery and infantry attack and broke through on the left flank. Waring led a combined force of the remnants of the 12th Rifles and 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers, and though they failed to win back the ground lost, they stopped the German advance. Lieutenant Colonel Holt Waring died of wounds during this action.
The Battalion diary for this action reads:
12th [April]. The South African Brigade which was holding a forward line in front of us were forced to retire thro us owing to their flanks being attacked. This left 108 Brigade holding the front line. The 1st Fus. & 9th Irish Fus. withdrew and occupied the trench on our right. This left the line of defence our old front line trench which was held before the advance of June 7th 1917.
13th. 6 am. Enemy artillery very active on our front line, and very accurate sniping. 8 am. Enemy attacked on our front but was beaten off with rifle and Lewis Gun fire. 5 pm. Enemy again attacked and forced the 9th Irish Fus. to retire. Major Waring by collecting stragglers and those retiring took them forward again at once successfully counterattacked and saved the situation by getting back the lost ground.
April 14th. 9 am. Enemy attacked on the Battn front and was driven off by Lewis Gun and Rifle fire. 12 midnight. Owing to the enemy having got a footing on hill 63 on our right we were ordered to fall back so as to readjust the line.
15th. ... 4 am. Enemy artillery and Trench mortars opened [on] our front line and after one hour & a half of heavy bombardment Enemy Infantry attacked on our front. We were forced to fall back, having sustained heavy casualties during the bombardment, and we took up a line along KINGSWAY trench.
In 1918 Waring's widow, Margaret, received a letter from the Battalion chaplain, Andrew Gibson, which stated:
"Throughout the regiment today wherever one goes, whether amongst officers or men, there is the same voice heard of admiration for his splendid heroism, and deep sorrow that we have lost him. I feel that I do not put into words the courage of the man or do justice to his great personality and the charm of his fine character, as soldier and leader of men. Your husband is one of our most shining examples."
Much of the biographical information above is sourced from The Story of a Banner: Waringstown during World War 1, by Leslie Elliott and David Stevenson, and Departed Warriors: The Story of a Family at War, by Jerry Murland. The portrait image of Holt Waring is sourced from The Story of a Banner. The fourth image shows Lieutenant (later Lieutenant Colonel) Richard Annesley West (mounted) alongside Captain Holt Waring. It is sourced from Richard Doherty's The North Irish Horse: A Hundred Years of Service. The image of Waring's gravestone was kindly provided by Richard Evans. See his website Nelson, Glamorgan and the Great War http://www.nelson-ww1-memorial.org.uk.