205417 Probationer Surgeon. Wesley Cope Holdsworth Royal Navy HMS Begonia from:Tunbridge Wells (d.17th Oct 1917) Wesley Holdsworth was, my Great Great Uncle, all I know was that he was a very academically talented boy, who won many awards whilst at school for being a top student. He joined the Navy as a probationer surgeon, but was tragically killed when HMS Begonia, a Q Class sloop, was lost in the Atlantic (possibly in the Bristol Channel?) when it was sunk with all hands having either been torpedoed or colliding with a German U Boat. Tragically, his brother Arther Holdsworth was killed less than a year later whilst serving as a Captain with the Lancashire Fusiliers, succumbing to wounds whilst a POW, which he received on the Western Front. He had already been awarded the Military Cross. They were both survived by their eldest brother, Benjamin Holdsworth, who served in Mesopotania.
|