Ex Cheylesmore Collection.
Private George Holmes was born in the Parish of Leigh, Lancaster and attested for the 13th Light Dragoons in April 1801, aged 18 years. Going on to see active service in the Peninsula with Captain Doherty's Troop, he was discharged in September 1814 as a result of wounds, 'the loss of two fingers of the left hand while gallantly skirmishing with the French at Toulouse in France and wounded right hand and head on 10 April 1814'. He was, moreover, described as a 'good, steady and clean soldier' who 'always conducted himself well and on many occasions behaved with distinguished bravery in the field when engaged by the enemy'.