Edward James Gibson Holland

Edward James Gibson Holland VC
Born	2 February 1878 Ottawa, Ontario
Died	18 June 1948 (aged 70) Cobalt, Ontario
Buried at	St James Cemetery, Toronto
Allegiance	Canada
Service/branch	Canadian Army
Rank	Major
Unit	The Royal Canadian Dragoons Canadian Machine Gun Corps
Battles/wars	Second Boer War World War I
Awards	Victoria Cross

Major Edward James Gibson Holland VC (2 February 1878, Ottawa – 18 June 1948, Cobalt, Ontario) was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces, for actions taken during the Second Boer War in South Africa.

Holland was born in Ottawa, Ontario, and attended Lisgar Collegiate Institute. He joined the 5th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards of the militia in 1895, at age 17.

At the start of the Second Boer War, Holland, now 22 years old, enlisted as a sergeant in The Royal Canadian Dragoons. He was one of three men from his regiment who were awarded the VC during a desperate rearguard action on 7 November 1900 at the Battle of Leliefontein near the Komati River. (The others were Lieutenant Hampden Zane Churchill Cockburn and Lieutenant Richard Ernest William Turner.)

During a dramatic retreat in the face of a superior force, Turner and Cockburn commanded a small group of men tasked with repulsing a large force of Boers at close range to prevent two 12-pound field guns from being captured. During the action, Holland helped to hold back the Boers using a Colt machine gun mounted on a carriage between the two guns. However, when the Colt machine gun overheated and jammed, Holland was unwilling to let it fall into the hands of the Boers. Realizing that the horse that pulled the machine gun carriage was too exhausted to outrun the Boers, Holland quickly detached the hot weapon from the carriage, caught and mounted a nearby horse and rode from the scene with the machine gun under his arm.

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