Thank you to Karen Wilson from Betchworth Village Archives for allowing us to publish her research.
Although Wallace Holland’s family lived at The Old House, he, like Alan Grant, was away at school and college for most of the time. His father, Charles Theodore Holland, was a major in the Wiltshire Regiment so it would have been natural for Wallace to make the army his career.
Wallace was born on April 19th 1892 and was at Marlborough College from 1905 until April 1911. During his time there he became a prefect and won the Bourn history prize two years running.
He left Marlborough and went to Cambridge and while he was at Cambridge he commanded the university’s squadron of King Edward’s Horse. By 1913 he was a Second Lieutenant and when war came in 1914 he was attached to the 9th Lancers and sent to France in September 1914. He was severely wounded at Neuve Chapelle in October 1914 and after his recovery he was assigned as Adjutant of the 9th Cavalry Reserve.
In October 1915 he was assigned to the 11th King Edward’s Own Lancers and was sent to India. He was made a Captain in January 1917 and commanded a squadron. It was while on active service against the Mahsudis in 1917 that he contracted a fatal illness and died on August 13th 1917. He was buried in Dera Ismail Khan Cemetery by the river Indus in what is now Pakistan.
Wallace Derry-Ayre Holland is remembered on the India Gate of the Delhi memorial as well as being on the Betchworth memorial.
| Born | Betchworth, Surrey | |
| Lived | Betchworth, Surrey | |
| Son of | Charles Theodore Holland | |
| Regiment | 11th Battalion. King Edward’s Own Lancers (Probyn’s Horse) | |
| Former Regiment | 9th Lancers. 9th Cavalry Reserve | |
| Date of Death | 13th August 1917 | |
| Place of Death | India | |
| Cause of Death | Died of disease | |
| Age | 25 | |
| Cemetery | Dera Ismail Khan Cemetery, Pakistan |
