Can you help find William?

William Craven Hollings was born on 4 January 1891 in Accrington, Lancashire, England, the eldest son of William Hollings and Sarah Ellen Holdsworth. They had a total of eight children:

William senior, was born in Farsley, Yorkshire and apprenticed as a bootmaker before moving across to Lancashire. He married Sarah Ellen Holdsworth in 1889 at Haslingden, Lancashire. For a time the family lived in Burnley, west of Leeds, where the children went to school.

In the early 1900’s Australia was advertising in England, encouraging migration for economic and lifestyle opportunities, even providing assistance for the trip and the family made plans for the move.

William (junior) was the first of the family to make the move, leaving London on 12 November 1910 on the steamship Armadale, headed to Fremantle, Western Australia.

The trusted 19 year-old William sent letters back and forth and after 18 months the rest of the family arrived in Fremantle in June 1912 on the SS Belgic.

The family settled in Geraldton, 400 km north of Perth. William senior’s bootmaking background enabled him to work for about twenty years in the boot repairing department of Ezywalkin Ltd., a company that had grown from small beginnings in Boulder City WA to become one of the largest footwear manufacturers and distributors in Australasia.

Source - FROM SMALL BEGINNINGS. (30 October 1932). Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902–1954), Second Section, p. 5. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article58689695

William senior was very active in the Geraldton community. He served on the Municipal Council, was a keen supporter of cricket and football clubs and was active in the cricket and yachting community. Both William and Fred earned reputations as accomplished yachtsmen. Their involvement meant they were widely recognised in the district — a connection noted when news of their service and sacrifice reached home.

In July 1915, William enlisted at Blackboy Hill, WA, joining the newly raised 32nd Battalion, D Company. A month later, his younger brother Fred also stepped forward at Geraldton and was assigned to the 16th Battalion, 12th Reinforcements. There was a strong contingent of Geraldton enlistees who left together by train and were farewelled by their community. The 32nd Battalion was formed at Mitcham, South Australia on 9 August 1915. A and B Companies were made up of recruits from South Australia and C and D Companies came from Western Australia. The WA soldiers did their training at the Blackboy Hill camp, outside of Perth.

William’s D Company and C Company moved to Adelaide at the end of September as the whole battalion was assembled at the Cheltenham Racecourse Camp. Training continued until the they departed for Egypt on 18 November 1915, with the unit being split between two troop ships HMAT A2 Geelong and HMAT A13 Katuna. William was on the Geelong.

As reported in The Adelaide Register:

William arrived in Suez on 14 December 1915 and moved to the El Ferdan camp just before Christmas. Fred’s 16 Battalion Reinforcements followed a month later, leaving Fremantle on 22 December 1915 on the HMAT A31 Ajana, disembarking in Egypt in January 1916. A month after his arrival, William marched to Ismailia and then to the major camp at Tel-el-Kebir where he stayed for February and most of March. Tel-el-Kebir was about 110 km northeast of Cairo and the 40,000 men in the camp were comprised of Gallipoli veterans and the thousands of reinforcements arriving regularly from Australia.

During their time in Egypt the 32nd had the honour of being inspected by H.R.H. Prince of Wales.

Their next stop was at Duntroon Plateau and then at Ferry Post until the end of May where they trained and guarded the Suez Canal. While here, William and Fred were reunited with Fred’s being transferred to William’s D Company, 32nd Battalion on 15 May 1916. Life in Egypt wasn’t easy, one soldier’s diary of his time there complained of being “sick up to the neck of heat and flies”, of the scarcity of water during their long marches through the sand and he described some of the food as “dog biscuits and bully beef”. But he did go on to mention good times as well with swims, mail from home, visiting the local sights and the like.

Source AWM C2081789 Diary of Theodor Milton PFLAUM 1915-16, page 29, page 12

After spending six months in Egypt, the call to support the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front came in mid-June. The 32nd left from Alexandria on the ship Transylvania on 17 June 1916, arriving at Marseilles, France on 23 June 1916 and they then immediately entrained for a three-day train trip to Steenbecque. Their route took them to a station just out of Paris, within sight of the Eiffel Tower, through Boulogne and Calais, with a view of the English Channel, before disembarking and marching to their camp at Morbecque, about 30 kilometres from Fleurbaix.

Theodor Pflaum (No. 327) and Wesley Choat (No. 68) wrote about the trip:

They were headed to the area of Fleurbaix in northern France which was known as the ‘Nursery Sector’ – a supposedly relatively quiet area where inexperienced Allied troops could learn the harsh realities of Western Front trench warfare against the Germans. But the quiet times did not last long. Training continued with a focus on bayonets and the use of gas masks, assuredly with a greater emphasis, given their position near the front. The 32nd moved to the Front on 14 July and they were into the trenches for the first time on 16 July, only three weeks after arriving in France.

On the 17th they were reconnoitering the trenches and cutting passages through the barbed wire, preparing for an attack, but it was delayed due to the weather. D Company’s Lieutenant Sam Mills’ letters home were optimistic for the coming battle:

The overall plan was to use brigades from the Australian Fifth Division to conduct a diversionary assault on the German trenches at Fromelles. The 32nd Battalion’s position was on the extreme left flank, with only 100 metres of No Man’s Land to get the German trenches. As they advanced, they were to link up with the 31st Battalion on their right. However, their position made the job more difficult, as not only did they have to protect themselves while advancing, but they also had to block off the Germans on their left, to stop them from coming around behind them.

On the 19th they were in position in the trenches readying for their attack. Zero Hour for advancing was to be 5.45 PM, but the Germans knew this attack was coming and were well-prepared. They opened a massive artillery bombardment on the Australians at 5.15 PM, causing chaos and many casualties. The charge over the parapet began at 5.53 PM. A and C Company were in the first and second waves to go, William and Fred were in the third and fourth waves. They were successful in the initial assaults and by 6.30 PM were in control of the German’s 1st line system (map Trench B), which was described as “practically a ditch with from 1 to 2 feet of mud and slush at the bottom”.

Source AWM4 23/49/12, 32nd Battalion War Diaries, July 1916, page 11

Unfortunately, with the success of their attack, ‘friendly’ artillery fire caused a large number of casualties because the artillery observers were unable to confirm the position of the Australian gains. They were able to take out a German machine gun in their early advances, but were being “seriously enfiladed” from their left flank.

By 8.30 PM their left flank had come under heavy bombardment with high explosives and shrapnel. Return bombardment support was provided and the 32nd were told that “the trenches were to be held at all costs”.

Source - AWM4 23/49/12, 32nd Battalion War Diaries, July 1916, page 12

Fighting continued through the night. The Australians made a further charge at the main German line beyond Trench B, but they were low on grenades, there was machine gun fire from behind them from the emplacement at Delangre Farm and they were so far advanced that they were getting shelled by both sides. In the early morning of the 20th, the Germans began a counterattack from the Australian’s left flank, bombing and advancing into Trench A (map).

Given the Australian advances that had been made earlier, the rear Trench E had been left almost empty, which then enabled the Germans to regain that trench and envelop the men of the 32nd. At 5.30 AM the Germans attacked from both flanks in force and with bombing parties. Having only a few grenades left, the only resistance they could offer was with rifles:

What was left of the 32nd had finally withdrawn by 7.30 AM on the 20th. The initial roll call count was devastating – 71 killed, 375 wounded and 219 missing. To get some perspective of the battle, when Charles Bean, Australia’s official war historian, attended the battlefield two and half years later, he observed a large quantity of bones, torn uniforms and Australian kit still on the battlefield. The final impact was that 228 soldiers of the 32nd Battalion were killed or died from wounds sustained at the battle and, of this, 166 were unidentified. Lieutenant Sam Mills survived the battle. In his letters home, he recalls the bravery of the men:

William was among the missing. Fred did make it back to the Australian lines, but he had a gunshot wound to his arm. He was evacuated to the 3rd Canadian General Hospital on 21 July at Boulogne-Sur-Mer. While the wound was described as mild, he was then sent to hospitals at Tunbridge Wells and Dartford UK and did not return to active service. He returned to Australia in April 1917.

The first official word about the boys did not reach reach Geraldton until mid-August 1916. All families had been waiting anxiously for telegrams, torn between hope and dread. For the Hollings family, it was a mix of both.

Some reassurance soon followed. A week later, the Geraldton Express reported that Fred had been admitted to the 3rd Canadian General Hospital on 21 July with a gunshot wound to the arm, described as mild; however, no further news on William was available:

For William, confirmation of his fate came more slowly. While he had been formally declared as having been killed in action during an enquiry held on 21 July 1916, the famly were not advised of this until 10 October. In January 1917, his father wrote to Base Records requesting a certificate of death so that the family might have official recognition of his loss.

Later that year, William’s personal effects were returned to the family, allowing some degree of closure. They included a wristwatch (damaged), a camera in case, printing frames, negatives, photos, an autograph book, a notebook, and a gold scarf pin — precious reminders of a life cut short.

Their brother James (Jim) Hollings (3501, 44th Battalion) enlisted in February 1917. He served with the 44th Battalion on the Western Front and returned to Australia in March 1919.

Fred carried William’s memory with him for the rest of his life. He rebuilt his career after the war, becoming a respected schoolteacher and later headmaster, and was remembered as a man of service and community. Their younger brother Jim also returned safely, ensuring that the Hollings family line endured in Western Australia. The grief of William’s loss remained within the family for decades. Each year, until at least 1931, his parents and siblings remembered him in local newspaper notices, keeping his memory alive.

Fred died in 1983 and is buried at Karrakatta Cemetery & Crematorium, Western Australia. William’s sacrifice is commemorated at:

William’s remains were not recovered, he has no known grave. After the battle, the Germans recovered 250 Australian soldiers and placed them in a burial pit at Pheasant Wood. This grave was discovered in 2008 and since then efforts have been underway to identify these soldiers by DNA testing from family members. As of 2024, 180 of the soldiers have been identified, including 41 of the 166 unidentified soldiers from the 32nd Battalion.

We welcome all branches of William’s family to come forward to donate DNA to help with his identification. If you know anything of family contacts, especially from the Hollings and Holdsworth lines from Geraldton or Lancashire, England, please contact the Fromelles Association. We hope that one day William will be named and honoured with a known grave.

Please visit Fromelles.info to follow the ongoing identification project and William’s story.