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Lieutenant Colonel W J Holbrook MBE
Late Coldstream Guards
by Colonel Simon Vandeleur
formerly Coldstream Guards
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John Holbrook, otherwise known across the Household Division as ‘the Blade’, was one of the iconic figures of his generation. He was revered by his friends and admirers, loved by his family and respected more widely for his selfless devotion to duty, which was made historic by the part he played in the film, ‘All the Queen’s Men’. He was a magnificent example of the very best of his era of Household Division soldiers; he looked every inch a Sergeant Major; he had an unsurpassed quickness of mind and wit; a well-honed turn of phrase and a willingness to encourage and nurture the next generation, which placed him, literally, head and shoulders above many others.
John died peacefully after a short illness in Frimley Park hospital aged 91 on 22nd April 2024. The elder of two brothers, born in Peckham during the inter-war years, he attended primary school in London, until the Second World War changed everything. The boys were evacuated with their mother to Wales, where they remained for six months, but returned home in 1941, only to be re-evacuated, this time to Paignton in Devon and then again to Norfolk. His father was a building contractor, separated from the family during the war, like many other families, and his parents divorced in 1945 and the family settled in the outskirts of London. John joined D Company of the East Surrey Army cadets aged 14 and his first job after school was as a runner for a bank. In his own words, having visited the Guards Depot at Caterham on several occasions for training nights, ‘my first impressions of the Brigade of Guards was that the pace of life within the walls of the Barracks was always much sharper, more alive, and to me was full of interest, when compared with what I thought was a very dull civilian world’.
As soon as John reached the minimum enlistment age of seventeen and a half years, he reported to the recruiting office at Croydon and was attested into the Coldstream Guards. He commenced recruit training at Caterham on 10th October 1950 in Sergeant Blood’s squad. Life was a great deal more rigorous than he had imagined as a cadet when he had been able to return to the comforts of home and tea with his family on a Sunday afternoon. After sixteen weeks of basic training at Caterham, John moved with his squad to Pirbright Camp, where training moved up a gear and the trainee guardsmen were introduced to tactical exercises including live firing, both by day and night, obstacle crossing and endurance marches. The final two weeks of the course were spent at Pickering Camp in North Yorkshire, where the recruits were put through their paces against a skilled enemy under field conditions. He reported for duty in May 1951 to the 1st Battalion at Victoria Barracks. His introduction to Guards of Honour, Queen’s Guards, Tower and Windsor Guards and the first Queen’s Birthday Parade in 1952, was to end in November when, as part of 32nd Guards Brigade, the Battalion was embarked on HMS Illustrious at Portsmouth, en route for Cyprus. John recalls that it went through his mind that they may well be embarking on Nelson’s old flagship HMS Victory, which was in dry dock opposite their point of embarkation.
The Battalion took up residence in Polemedhia Camp in the hills above Limassol, whilst the situation in Egypt deteriorated. During this tactical pause, a ten day course of instruction for potential lance corporals, was organised, supervised by Drill Sergeant Leslie Trimming, the ‘Black Mamba’. He accepted nothing less than excellence, and must have been a fearsome figure to the young Holbrook. John re-calls that it was on a sun-baked football pitch and a wooden hut with a straw roof that he first learnt the basic requirements of leadership and how to be an instructor. He was promoted to Lance Corporal on 28th January 1952.
The Battalion was soon deployed to reinforce the garrisons in Egypt, where rioting had resulted in the killing of several Europeans. Taking up residence in the Port Louis tented camp at Tel-el-Kebir, the Battalion’s mission was to guard a vast Ordnance Depot before moving to a signal station beside the Suez canal, to guard various key points. John remarks in his notes that when not on operational duty, life was boring and frustrating. The camps were uncomfortable, hot, fly-ridden and the local Egyptians were experts at stealing military kit. The Guardsmen had to sleep with their rifles inside their bankets in order to ensure that they were not pilfered. John was not sorry to return to the Guards Depot as a Squad Instructor in July 1952 at the young age of just 20 years.
It was under the eagle eyes of RSM Donald Whyte SG, Drill Sergeant Ernie Osbourne IG and Sergeant Pinto Price GG, all Second World War veterans, that John learnt to drill and exercise a squad on a sixpence. He went on to enjoy two very happy years as a Guards Depot instructor, taking six squads through their basic training and gaining promotion to Lance Sergeant in 1953 and entry to the Sergeants’ Mess, which opened up a whole new dimension to his military life. In 1954, the Depot tour came to an end and John re-joined the 1st Battalion in Chelsea Barracks who had by that time returned from the Middle East.
Marriage to Patricia and promotion to sergeant at the age of just twenty-two happened in 1955. John had met Pat at a WRAC Depot party in 1952. She was a cook and came from a pit village near Doncaster. Soon afterwards the battalion arms plotted to Krefeld in Germany as part of 32nd Guards Brigade, where a son, Jeffrey, was born. It was clear that John was a rising star: intelligent, immaculately turned out, a wonderful turn of phrase, ambitious and keen to learn. A posting to Sandhurst as a Sergeant instructor followed where John enjoyed three wonderful years under Academy Sergeant Major John Lord training officer cadets. He returned with his young family to the 1st Battalion where he was employed as the Police Sergeant and then the Mortar Platoon Sergeant in Support Company, which included six month operational tours in Kenya and British Guyana from the Battalion’s base in Windsor. John helped to develop the doctrine of mortars and anti-tank gun detachments being detached to each rifle company.
Promotion to Company Quartermaster Sergeant followed and then for the Aden tour another promotion to Company Sergeant Major of Headquarter Company. John developed his diplomatic skills whilst in control of the many support departments within the Battalion, which formed the backbone of support for the operational role. During the Aden tour, John was posted back to the Guards Depot as Company Sergeant Major of No 13 Company Coldstream Guards, where he comments that he received his final grooming under the outstanding RSMs Ted Rose and Jim Grindley. Two years later, the next step was Drill Sergeant of the 1st Battalion under Tom Forrest, who entrusted John to deputise for him – a high honour. He was selected as RSM of the Depot in 1969, and took over from Jim Grindley in 1970. John regarded this period of his career as the most rewarding and happiest years of his military service, working for Lieutenant Colonel John Ghika, the Commandant. As the RSM, he had to be familiar with Coldstream customs and traditions, but also uphold the customs and traditions of the other six Regiments of the Household Division. John was a very fair minded and progressive man, who was keen to uphold traditions, discipline and high standards, but not unthinkingly, and where change was necessary, John would drive forward the change. Perhaps the best example was in the Sergeants’ Mess which John regarded both as the home for the single instructors and a club for the married men whilst also being an important place for official entertainment and hospitality. John was always keen to encourage and nurture the young NCOs, recalling his days as a young NCO himself.
As a young and inexperienced Regimental Signals Officer in the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards, whilst on a reconnaissance in Cyprus, John allowed me to drive him, the Quartermaster, on our journeys around the island. Anyone familiar with Cypriot roads and standards of driving will know that this could be a challenging experience in a long wheel-based Land Rover. I occasionally misjudged the speed and the corner and noticed John’s knuckles whitening the dashboard. A gentle lecture would follow on ‘under-steer’ and ‘over-steer’, which I learnt from and soon got the hang of driving in Cyprus. Looking back, John was generous to me, a lesser man would have taken over the driving himself and I probably should have been relegated to the back seat. He made me feel good about my limited driving capabilities and I was to grow in confidence; this was the essence of the good instructor. I was fortunate to have John as my teacher. When I became Commanding Officer of the Army Training Regiment, as it had then become, I was able to draw on the guidance and advice that John had imparted to me.
Following commissioning in 1970 and a Berlin posting, John was an outstanding Families officer in the 2nd Battalion and then Motor Transport Officer in the 1st Battalion and then back to the 2nd Battalion as Technical Quartermaster and Quartermaster, including a move to Fallingbostel in 1979 under the command of Lieutenant Colonel The Hon Willie Rous. By this stage John had bought a house in Doncaster and Pat was able to return to look after her parents and John became a weekly commuter. Jeffrey and Mark were serving with The Life Guards and 2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment respectively.
John recalls three highlights in his career as an officer. The first was his time as Motor Transport Officer, where he became a qualified driving instructor and derived great satisfaction from teaching the young Guardsmen how to drive safely. The second was during his time as the Quartermaster under Willie Rous and the great battalion picnic on Beachy Head followed by a battalion swim. John was a great fan of Willie’s and loved his sense of fun – ‘soldiering should be fun’ was a moniker which appealed to John. The third highlight for John and his family was the much-deserved award of an MBE in 1981. The investiture took place at Buckingham Palace in 1982. Jeffrey was the Corporal of Horse on Queen’s Life Guard duty and Mark had just returned from the Falkland’s war, where he had been wounded serving with the 2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment. After receiving his MBE from Her Majesty the Queen, an equerry gathered the family together in a side-room and the Queen spent some time with them, congratulating this remarkable family on the award, consoling Jeffrey following the very recent IRA bomb attack on the Queen’s Life Guard, and welcoming home the wounded Mark from the Falkland Islands. There was quite some party afterwards in Hyde Park Barracks.
John was posted from the 2nd Battalion in 1981 to the Depot as Quartermaster and promoted Lieutenant Colonel Quartermaster in 1982. Following retirement in 1985, he was appointed Army Careers Officer as an RO2 in Sheffield, from where he was able to live at home for the first time in his long career. He was responsible for recruiting offices in Doncaster, Barnsley and Sheffield. John did not let up. He was an outstanding Careers Officer and his presence, bearing, interpersonal skills and ability as a raconteur made him a well-known and respected figure in South Yorkshire. John finally retired from uniformed service aged sixty-one. He, by that stage, had taken up the Presidency of the Leeds branch of the Coldstream Guards Association and was a regular attender of their dinners and events. He worked part-time for a transport company delivering cars for banks. On arrival on Day One in the civilian transport office he was greeted by a former Coldstream Drum Major, who was the foreman. John drew himself up to his full height: ‘Reporting for duty, Drum Major, sir’!
John epitomised the British Army’s ability, to take some fairly average human material and turn it into something special. I, along with many others, count myself fortunate to have served with John and to have known him for forty-five years. He was one of my most regular correspondents in Regimental Headquarters. He was a most loyal and devoted Coldstreamer. |
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