137th (2nd West Lancashire) Field Regiment Royal Artillery

Hello I am a new member and would like to find out more about Lt. Col. Gilbert Daly Holmes who, I understand, commanded the above regiment both before and at Slim River. He survived the War and retired with the rank of brigadier. I am particularly interested in his wartime role both before and after Malaya.

If anybody can help me I should be most grateful.

Mark7

 

Mark,

Could there be some confusion here, as Lt. Col. G.D. Holme of the 137th Field Regiment was George Dodgson Holmes who died in battle on 07.01.1942 and is buried in Taiping War Cemetery.

I stand to be corrected though.

Mike

 

Dear Mike,

Many thanks for responding to my query.

I am sorry to say that I am the cause of confusion. I found a reference to Lt. Col. Gilbert Daly Homes, killed at Slim River in early 1942 on a Wikipedia entry devoted to the Malaya Command. As I was aware that Gilbert Daly Holmes, R.A., died in Norfolk in 1965 I assumed that Wikipedia has simply been mistaken about his death and that he had indeed been present at Slim Bridge. According to his Army record he was awarded the Burma Star (gazetted 15 December 1946), which further strengthend my belief that he was part of the campaign to stop the Japanese from reaching Singapore. Until I read your message I was unaware of the existence of Lt.Col. George Dodgson Holmes.

Gilbert Daly Holmes was promoted captain in December 1932 and between January 1934 and September 1937 he served as Adjutant, Coast Artillery School at Shoeburyness. He was promoted Major on 1 August 1938 and on 27 September he was appointed one of two instructors in Gunnery at the 1st Anti Aircraft Division based at Hillingdon House, Uxbridge. His army record during the war years is difficult to interpret but he appears to have spent the middle period in Ceylon and India. He was promoted temporary Lt.Col. in September 1941 and was variously temporary Brigadier and (briefly) acting Major General before being restored to the rank of Lt. Col. in January 1946. He was regranted the rank of Brigadier on 1 January 1947. He ended his military career as aide-de-camp to George VI and to the present Queen, finally retiring in January 1953.

You will probably have gathered that I have only a limited knowledge of World War II military history. My interest in Gilbert Daly Holmes derives from an album of photographs I have of colonial India presented to his father, Lt.Col. Gilbert Vallentin Holmes I.A. in 1912. In the course of researching the career of G.V.H. I became interested in his son and thought that I would try to find out something of his career. Any ideas you might have on researching the wartime experience of Gilbert Daly Holmes would be most gratefully received.

Mark

 

Hi Mark, thanks for this detailed background for Gilbert Daly Holmes. He is a relative of my husband, Mike. Gilbert's grandfather, William Watt Daly, was a brother to Mike's great grandfather Francis Dermot Daly -- both born in Jamaica, and ending up in India, thanks to General Sir Henry Dermot Daly (their cousin). There's often confusion here because of the repetition of the name Francis Dermot Daly. General Sir Henry Dermot Daly was the younger son of Lt Col Francis Dermot Daly, while Mike's great grandfather was named by his father Richard in honour of Richard's military brother. I would love to see any photos you may have of this line of Mike's family. William Watt Daly was an equally interesting character having spent his early years in the London Orphan Asylum. His mother moved to London after the early and untimely death of her husband, Richard (the father to her six children) in Guyana when William was only five years old. She was unable to afford the upkeep of William and his five siblings so they were farmed out to a number of institutions or had positions found for them. Such an interesting family!

 

Hi, Billy Budgie, I am searching for a good photograph in uniform of Major General Gilbert Daly Holmes. He served in Ceylon during WW 2. I am writing a book on Early Military History of Ceylon. Please email to laksiri.mendis@gmail.com

 

Laksiri,

Welcome aboard. We strongly advise against posting email addresses; "bad people" harvest them for their profit. It is easy to remove the email using the Edit button bottom left.

More in a moment.

Billy Budgie has not logged in since October 2020, so is unlikely to read your post. I will send him a Private Message (PM) next to alert him / her to your request. Success depends on the email given when joining remains valid and they are interested in helping you.

The earlier author Mark7, has not logged in since 2017, I will include him in my PM.

You get access to the PM option after creating x5 posts, but can receive and reply to them.

Incidentally I know there are several threads on Ceylon in WW2 - have you looked around the site? The search option is simple - one word - either in the text or title.

Had a look around for a photo, no joy. Too junior to appear in newspapers and though he may have been photographed when an ADC to the King post-war he wouldn't be identified.

Not photos, some context:

https://www.britishmilitaryhistory.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/124/2021/06/24-Indian-Anti-Aircraft-Brigade-1942-45.pdf See pg.2 shows when he was in Ceylon.

General history 9th AA Brigade: 9th Anti Aircraft Brigade

 

Thanks a lot David

 

Hi David, I have written to the Museum of the Royal Artillery Regiment requesting them to go through their journal JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ARTILLERY REGIMENT and their regimental magazine ' THE GUNNER ' which the Curator has asked their Research Services Team to process. Hope they will find something for me. In the meantime, try to contact the relative of Major General Thomas Scott and get me the image . Thanking you in advance. If you know someone in the RA Museum please do something to expedite this search.....