Not Forgotten, 244 Private Arthur Comport HOLROYD, No 4 Machine Gun Company AIF, World War 1

Private Arthur Holroyd was born in Nottingham, England, the son of Annie Bertha Holroyd and the late James Holroyd and came to Australia when he was 14 years old. At the time of his enlistment at the age of 24 in Perth on 15 March 1916 he was farming on the Dowerin-Koorda Road at Glencoe Farm. Arthur Holroyd was placed in the 4th Machine Gun Company and embarked for England on H.M.T S. Golden Eagle on 1 December 1916, taken on strength with the No 4 Australian Machine Gun Company on 23 December 1916.
Machine Gun Companies were units attached to the Brigade with the same numeric designation, in this case the 4th Brigade. They were equipped with the Vickers Medium Machine gun which was served by a crew of three and mounted on a tripod. It was not easily portable and was generally sited in a prepared fixed position. Both the Vickers and the German Maxim MG08 had a distinctive appearance largely because of a cylindrical water jacket sleeve attached around the barrel, which was designed to cool the barrel when firing at the rapid rate. They achieved continuous fire through the provision of ammunition in canvas belts. The Vickers was capable of firing at extended ranges, out to 3,000 yards. The guns would be sited to provide flanking fire across a defensive front, often covering belts of barbed wire or other obstacles, forcing the enemy to attack through their line of fire with devastating results9.
The 4th Brigade, under the command of John Monash, received the order to attack the German position at Stormy Trench on 4 February 1917 and the attack began that night. The Germans counter-attacked several times and the fighting was fierce. Although Arthur Holroyd’s service record is very sparse, the date and place of his death is consistent with his being killed in the action at Stormy Trench. Private Holroyd was killed in action on 5 February 1917 and is buried in Beaulencourt British Cemetery in Ligny-Thilloy, 1 mile south of Bapaume in France.
At the time of Arthur Holroyd’s enlistment his mother gave her address as Dowerin, but later was living in Albany. Apart from his widowed mother, Arthur Holroyd left a sister, Mrs. George Batt of Sunnydene Farm, Marradong, near Boddington, and I believe a sister Norah who married William Phillips who also served in the A.I.F.
Private Holroyd was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.