[Merry]

Samson Holman was born in 1895 at Beaulieu in the New Forest in Hampshire. was the second to last child of ten born to William Holman and his wife Emma, nee Renyard.

On the 1911 census Samson is shown as a Private in the Hampshire Regiment stationed at Aldershot. He is listed as aged 18 but he was actually only 15 at this date.

His army record has not survived, but his Medal Card states he first served during the war in the Balkans in 1915.

He was missing, presumed dead on 13 July 1916 after nearly two weeks at the Battle of the Somme. His name is recorded on the Thiepval Memorial along with 265 other names recorded for that date.