Trafford

1911 Census - 14 Harcourt Road, Ashton upon Mersey.   Son - aged: 2 - born:
Ashton upon Mersey.   Head of household - Percy Holden - Married - aged: 27
- occ: Salesman (Printed Cottons) - born: Manchester.   Also Arabella
Holden - Wife - aged: 33 - born: Broughton, Lancashire.   Plus his maternal
grandmother.

He obtained a Bachelor of Commerce degree.

Married Monica Alice Brameld during the June quarter 1935 in the
Westminster R.D. - ref: 1a/1113.  Monica was born in London in 1911.

1939 National Registration - No Trace.  This would indicate that he was
already serving.   Serving men were not recorded in this census.   His
parents and younger sister were residing at 32 Sibson Road, Sale, at this
time.  His wife and children were now residing at Faulkner's Lane,
Mobberley - Monica Holden - Married - born on the 28th July 1911 - occ:
Housewife, Domestic Duties.  There were two redacted records at this
address - these would have been their two young sons - Godfrey de Lannoy
(b.1938) and Simon de Lannoy (b.1941). 

Raymond was sent to South Africa for training as part of the J.A.T.S.
(Joint Air Training Scheme).  He trained at No. 44 Air Training School,
Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, part of 25 Group, for Navigation and bomb
aiming.    He was Gazetted (Flying Officer) 12th September 1941.

He died of Pneumonia aboard H.M.S. AORANGI and was buried at sea.  His
death was recorded on arrival at Freetown, Sierra Leone on the 13th August
1943.   If the airmen don't have a grave, in South Africa or elsewhere,
then the JATS airmen who died in the African theatre of war are
commemorated on the Alamein Memorial.  Originally M.V. AORANGI, she was
fitted out as a Troopship in 1941 sailing mostly between Australia and
England.

As part of convoy CF.13 - H.M.S. AORANGI sailed from Capetown to Pointe
Noire in the Congo, sailing on the 4th August 1943, arriving Pointe Noire
on the 11th; this was the return journey from the Far East to Algiers.  She
departed Pointe Noire for Freetown as part of convoy CF.13A on the 13th and
arrived at Freetown on the 24th. From there she sailed on August 25th with
CF.13B for Gibraltar, arriving there on the 31st. She sailed from Gibraltar
with convoy KMF.25A, which was bound for Alexandria, but detached to
proceed independently to Algiers. On leaving Algiers, she joined the
Liverpool bound convoy MKF.26 off Oran, arriving at Liverpool on December
9th 1943.

Death reported in the 27/08/1943 edition of the Altrincham Guardian.

Commemorated on the private family gravestone in S.S. Wilfred & Mary Church
Yard, Mobberley, which states that he was buried at sea.

CWGC - Son of Percy & Arabella Holden (nee Leather); husband of Monica A.
Holden of Mobberley, Cheshire.  B.Com.

His wife Monica Alice Holden never remarried and died on the 25th July
1988, aged 76 years.

Commemorated in The Mobberley Parish Council's Booklet - "1914-2014,
Remembering the Men from Mobberley who went to War for their Country" - per
Alistair MacLeod.