Holford Charles Fourdrinier Plant
| Rank: | Second Lieutenant |
| Regiment: | North Staffordshire Regiment, 3rd Battalion, attached Leicestershire Regiment, 9th Batallion |
| Country: | France |
| Cemetary/Memorial: | Arras Memorial, Faubourg-D´Amiens Cemetery, Arras (Bay 7 & 8) |
| Awards: | British War Medal Victory Medals |
Born in July 1895 in Tillington, Staffordshire, Second Lieutenant Plant was killed in action at Fontaine-les-Croiselles, on 3rd May 1917. He was 22 years old.
He was the eldest son of the late Samuel Plant (1861-1910), a solicitor and Ethel Marian Clowes (nee Stevenson, 1873-1946) of The Moorings, Woodbridge. He had two younger brothers, John Christopher G. (1899-1930) and Samuel Arthur N (1899-1986), as well as a sister, Margaret Antoinette (b.1901).
He was the nephew of Reverend Philip Crick, the founder and Headmaster of Saint Ronan’s School, through the marriage to his aunt Sarah Antoinette Plant, one of his father’s older sisters.
He came to Saint Ronan’s in October 1904 and was placed in Class III as a result of an examination held on the first day of Term. He then went to Ipswich Grammar School.
At the outbreak of war, he was a Trooper in the Essex Royal Horse Artillery. He obtained a commision in November 1914 as a Second Lieutenant in the North Staffordshire Regiment. He served with the British Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from July 1916, being attached to the 9th Batallion of the Leicestershire Regiment. The Regiment was enaged in various actions on the Western Front, including the Battle of Bazentine Ridge, the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, and The Battle of Morval in which the Division captured Geudecourt.
In 1917, the 9th Battalion saw action on the Somme, including the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line, the First and Third Battles of the Scape, the flanking operations around Bullecourt, the Battle of Polygon Wood, the Battle of Broodseinde, the Second Battle of Passchendaele and the Cambrai Operations. It is thought that Second Leiutenant Crick was lost during the Battle of Bullecourt on 3rd May 1917.
His brother John also served, as a Lieutenant with the Norfolk Regiment, 3rd (Reserve) Battalion who saw action against the Turkish Army, including Gallipoli and Suvla Bay. In 1916 they were engaged in the defence of the Suez Canal. In 1917 the Norfolks saw action in Gaza and ended the War in Palestine.
Second Lieutenant Plant’s cousin and schoolfriend, Walter Crick, also served and perished in World War I, aged just 21.
Second Lieutenant Plant is also commemorated on the Woodbridge War Memorial.
