Family :

Education & Career :

Kelly went to Rugby.

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

13 October - 2 November 1914.The battle of Armentieres was one of a series of battles that in 1914 constituted the so called 'Race to the Sea', a series of outflanking moves where the Germans and the British/French Armies sought to turn the flank of the other as the moved towards the English Channel. As the momentum slowed, the contacts evolved into trench warfare.It was closely linked with the Battles of Messines and La Bassee. Following the capture of Armentieres on 17th October 1914 the British were forced on the defensive.

Detail :

CAPTAIN HARRY HOLDSWORTH KELLY, F.R.G.S.. 38 FIELD COY, ROYAL ENGINEERS, was shot by a sniper on the 24th October 1914 while laying wire entanglements, was the youngest son of Lieutenant - Colonel H. H. Kelly. R.M.A. At present we have no specific information on how he was killed other than that 38 Field Company RE had been engaged in repairing bridges in order that the army could advance beyond Armentiers. No doubt his unit was under fire from German artillery intent in hampering that work. He was one of those great adventurers who made and ruled the Empire. He was commissioned in 1899 into the Royal Engineers and seconded to the Egyptian Army 1903-13. He joined the Egyptian Army in 1903, took a leading role in the Port Sudan works, and became Director of the Roads and Communication Section in the Sudan Government's Public Works Department in 1908. He was killed in action in France. His diary was published in 1997; 'Imperial Boundary Making; The Diary of Captain Kelly and Sudan - Uganda Boundary Commission of 1913'. Educated at Rugby which he entered in 1894. He joined the Royal Engineers in March 1899, and became Lieutenant in July, 1901, and Captain in March, 1902. In 1901 he was the Army and Navy heavyweight champion. Captain Kelly, who was not married, was a member of the United Service and of the Royal Automobile Clubs London, and of the Turf Club, Cairo, and was a man of splendid physique, standing 6 ft. 5 in. in height, and being immensely popular in the service. On one occasion during this war he walked a long distance down the trenches under heavy fire to visit his subaltern, who had been lying severely wounded all night, and took him to the dressing station, returning to his own men, who said he paid no regard to shrapnel.

Masonic :

Initiated into Khartoum Lodge No. 2877 in 1904 when he was a Lieutenant resident in Khartoum, Egypt. He resigned from Khartoum 14th December 1913. He became a joining member of Aldershot Army & Navy Lodge No 1971 28th May, 1914, recorded as "Died 1915".

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley