John Kenneth Hollis (9 May 1892 - ) RFC Pilot and WW1 PoW

Introduction
Jack Hollis served as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps in WW1.  He was shot down while flying over German lines near Arras in April 1917, “Bloody April”.  Subsequently, he was interned in a Prisoner of War camp at Soltau in Germany and there he met the Belgian painter, Georges Goffart (1891–1974).  Goffart painted Jack Hollis, a haunting portrait of a man who had been through the horrors of war.  By some presently unknown route this painting came into the possession of my partner, who found it while clearing out the possessions of her father and grandfather.  The following account relates what is known at the moment about Jack Hollis and Georges Goffart, in the hope that readers of this blog can throw more light on the subject.

Early Life of Jack Hollis
Jack Hollis was born in 1892 in Muzaffarpur, State of Bihar, India, the third son of Leonard William Hollis and Susan Hollis, nee Lowndes.  Leonard Hollis was himself born in India, at Calcutta, in 1859.  “Hollis” is a name which is most prevalent in the Midlands of England and it is presumed that Leonard met his future wife while on furlough in the home country.  They were married in Cheadle, Staffordshire in 1885.  Susan Lowndes was the daughter of Jacob Lowndes who, in 1871, was described as a plumber and glazier but in 1881 had taken up the new calling of photographer.  After the marriage, the couple left for India.  The first four children were all born in India, three in Muzaffarpur and one in Darjeeling.  Muzaffapur was in an area between Calcutta and Allahabad which was subject to heavy railway development and presumably was the base from which Leonard worked.  Darjeeling was a hill station in the foothills of the Himalyas, much favoured by the British to escape from the heat of summer.  It was and still is, served by a steam railway.

The family appears to have returned to Britain about 1894 because Jack Hollis was baptised at Little Hadham, Hertfordshire in June 1894, though he had been born in 1892.  A permanent return had occurred by 1899, when daughter Phyllis May was born in Tean, Staffordshire.  In 1900, Leonard Hollis became an employee of the Midland Railway Locomotive Department and at the time of the 1901 Census Susan Hollis, a music teacher, was living in Leek, Staffordshire, though her husband was not at home, nor anywhere in the Census return.  Son, Sydney appeared to be following in his father’s footsteps as he had become an apprentice steam engine maker.  In the 1911 Census Susan Barrett Hollis was recorded as a widow living on private means in Combe Martin, Devon.  Her four daughters were living with her.  No record can be found of her youngest son, John Kenneth.  Also, there is no trace of a death registration in the UK for her husband Leonard Hollis.  Interestingly, there is a plausible candidate for Leonard Hollis being still alive.  Born in Calcutta, he was described as a locomotive fitter pensioner and was boarding at Hanford, Stoke on Trent.  He had a wife of less than one year, Violet, who was only 24!

The Royal Flying Corps and the Hollis Boys

The oldest two sons in the Hollis family, Sydney and Douglas, had left Britain for the Solomon Islands but returned during the early part of WW1 to take commissions in the Royal Flying Corps.  Douglas Lowndes Hollis, born 1888, appears to have been a Private in the Legion of Frontiersmen and then a Lieutenant  in the “RA Force”.  The RFC was inaugurated in April 1912 and was the air arm of the British Army before and during most of WW1, merging with the Royal Naval Air Service to form the Royal Air Force on 1 April 1918.  Jack Hollis also signed up for the RFC, as a Second Mechanic, in November 1914.  He served with No 16 Squadron in France for almost two years and made rapid progress in his new calling, being promoted rapidly to First Mechanic, to Corporal and then to Observer, probably as a result of the frequent losses of aircraft and crew.  Jack’s commanding officer was impressed by his work as an observer in France and late in 1916 he was sent home to train as a pilot.  In those days pilots had to pass a three month course, during which the candidates took a Royal Aeronautical Club test. If you were successful, you obtained your “wings”, denoted by a badge worn on the left breast of the uniform.  Jack Hollis obtained his wings on 28^th November 1916.  About this time he was promoted to Flight Sergeant and qualified as an instructor.

Jack Hollis returns to France - the Battle of Arras

About the end of March 1917 Jack Hollis returned to France and was posted to No 11 Squadron stationed at Le Hameau near Arras on the Western Front.  He only had about 40 hours of flying experience.  He was involved in the Second Battle of Arras, which lasted from 9 April to 16 May.  However, the air campaign in support of the battle to come began on 4 April.  This battle was a British-led offensive to push back the Germans from their entrenched positions near the town of Arras.  There were major gains on the first day of the battle but progress subsequently petered out into a bloody stalemate.  At the end of the battle, there had been about 160,000 British and about 125,000 German casualties.  General Trenchard commanded the 25 squadrons (365 aircraft) of the RFC deployed to support the advance by Allied troops at Arras.  He adopted a very aggressive stance for the RFC, with many patrols mounted for the purposes of artillery spotting, aerial photography of trench systems and dropping bombs.

Inevitably, RFC casualties were high, partly due to this aggressive patrolling, partly due to inferior training and equipment and partly due to the operation of the legendary air ace Manfred von Richthofen, the “Red Baron” (his aircraft was painted red) and his “Flying Circus” in the area around Arras.  The average flying life of RFC pilots at Arras at this time was a mere 18 hours.  One German infantry officer wrote “During these days there were a whole series of dogfights, which almost always ended in defeat for the British since it was Richtofen’s squadron they were up against.  Often five or six planes in succession would be chased away or shot down in flames.”  April 1917 became known as “Bloody April” for good reason.  Between 4 April and 8 April the RFC lost 75 aircraft and 105 crew in air combat.  The high attrition rate had caused new trainees to be rushed to the front and in the same period a further 56 aircaft were lost due to accidents.  However, in spite of these losses, the Germans failed to stop the RFC carrying out its objectives.   

Since his return to France about the end of March 1917, Jack Hollis had been flying daily reconnaisance and photography patrols over enemy lines but on 22 April his luck ran out.  Up to this day the squadron had lost three crews with three other men wounded and one killed.   Accompanied by his observer Lieutenant Bernard Tolhurst, Jack Hollis took off at about 3pm in an FE2b aircraft on a photographic reconnaisance mission, accompanied by six other aircraft.  The FE2b was a biplane with a pusher propellor, which allowed the pilot and observer to sit forward of the engine, with the observer at the very front and the pilot in a raised position behind him.  This arrangement gave excellent forward views but left the aircraft vulnerable to attack from the rear and below.  Both the observer and the pilot had machine guns on mountings.  However, neither crewman had a belt to hold him in the machine nor was he equipped with a parachute, though it had been invented by this time. About 45 minutes into the flight they were attacked by a large number of German aircraft from von Richthofen's squadron.  During the engagement, in which Bernard Tolhurst was very active with his machine gun, Hollis' aircraft was hit and the engine and some control cables severed.  Tolhurst was shot in the stomach and Hollis shot in the shoulder, left foot and head.  Although weak from loss of blood, Tolhurst continued firing from a kneeling position when he was no longer able to stand.  By this time the aircraft was effectively uncontrollable and was gliding in the direction of the British lines.  Hollis tried to throw the machine guns over the side to lighten the aircraft but found he could not stand.  The aircraft struck the ground between two German trenches and both crewmen were thrown out, Hollis being knocked unconscious.  They had been shot down by Kurt Wolff, his 19th success.  He was shortly afterwards decorated for his exploits.
When Hollis regained consciousness he found Tolhurst lying a short distance away.  The Germans carried them to the nearest trench.  Tolhurst also came to and the two Britons spoke to each other. Tolhurst asked Hollis how he felt and the reply was that Hollis felt "shot all over".  "So do I" was the rejoinder.  They were both tended by a German doctor, who told Hollis that his fellow crewman was going to die.  The two were laid side by side with Tolhurst now delerious.  He died shortly, muttering "Got one.  Got one."  Jack Hollis survived and was transferred to Soltau Prison Camp.

Prison Camp in Soltau

By this time his mother had moved to 26 Chambercombe Road, Ilfracombe and she did not hear of her son’s fate until she received a letter from Jack’s commanding officer, Major Maclean, about the middle of May 1917.  His letter was dated 23 April, the day after Jack failed to return from his mission.  Maclean wrote “He was clearly seen to land under control behind the German lines.  I am of the opinion that your son is a prisoner of war, and if wounded probably not seriously, and I hope you will soon hear from him from Germany.”  In the middle of June, Mrs Hollis received two postcards from Jack, dated 5^th and 8^th May respectively, confirming that he was a prisoner of war, that he had been wounded  but that he was recovering.  Representatives of the International Red Cross managed to visit Jack on 19^th July 1917, confirming that he was in Soltau Prison Camp.

Soltau Prison Camp (Lager Soltau) was built in 1914/1915 and was the largest German PoW camp during WW1.  It was actually two camps close together, Soltau and Wolterdingen.  There were more than 70 barracks at Soltau housing mostly French and Belgian prisoners.  The town of Soltau lies on Luneberg Heath about 80Km from Hannover, east of Bremen and south of Hamburg.  Its name is derived from solt (salt) and au (river).  Potassium salts were mined in the area.
Bernard Tolhurst's father received a telegram from the War Office on 25 April telling him that his son was missing but adding "that this does not necessarily mean either killed or wounded", sadly giving hope to anxious parents.
Jack Hollis wrote to Bernard Tolhurst's father from Soltau in July 1918, which revealed that he had taken some months to recover from his injuries and that he had been suffering a partial loss of memory, including being unable to recall Tolhurst's name.  He gave Mr Tolhurst an account of the battle and the heroic part that had been played by Bernard.  In a further letter sent to Mr Tolhurst after his return to Britain, Jack Hollis wrote of Bernard Tolhurst "Game to the last, fighting on his knees when he could no longer stand, and even when he was dying he thought of duty, and must have been consoled in the knowledge that he had done his duty as few could have done.  I hope in the afterworld to meet him so I may tell him how I appreciate wonderful pluck and devotion to duty, and how through his wonderful staying and fighting powers he saved my own life."

Jack Hollis' portrait by Georges Goffart

The above is a photograph of the portrait of Jack Hollis by George Goffart.  It is rendered in oil on canvas.  The painting is framed and has inside dimensions of 618mm x 458mm, though the painted area is greater than this, with some painted parts obscured by the frame.  It depicts a young man in a khaki uniform and bearing “wings”, with badges on both shoulders.  The one on the left shoulder can be seen to be of the Royal Flying Corps.  Jack is sitting in a chair smoking a cigarette and has an open book on his lap.  He is well-groomed, unsmiling, even haunted and the pose suggests that he has just been interrupted in his reading.  The smoke curling up from the cigarette suggests that the cigarette had been held in that position for some time.  In the background a piece of cloth, perhaps a blanket, is draped on a vertical surface.  It is not clear if this backdrop has been created for the purpose of the artist, or if it is part of the furnishings of the location. The painting is signed by the artist in the bottom left hand corner “G Goffart”.  The paint is rather thin, especially on the left hand side.  On the back of the canvas, part obscured by the frame, are the following messages. 

1.  “Esquisse A Jack Holl(i)(e)s en Souvenir de George”  (Sketch for Jack Hollis as a keepsake from George).  It appears that the artist initially spelled the surname “Holles” but then corrected it to “Hollis”, presumably after the painting had been completed. 

2.  “ Boulevard Lamberment, Bruxelles” 

3.  “Camp de Soltau en Hannovre 1918” 

Messages 1. and 3. have been rendered in paint using a brush, but message 2. is in ink, as though added later in response to the question “Where do you live?”  The handwriting is the same in all three messages and is clearly that of Georges Goffart.

Georges Goffart - Background

Georges Gabriel Goffart was a Belgian painter born in 1891 in Charleroi, a few miles outside Brussels.  He attended the University Paul Pasteur in Charleroi then, from 1909 to 1914, he studied at the Academie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.  Boulevard Lamberment in Brussels may well have been where Goffart was living while attending the ARBA.  It is now a major thoroughfare in the commune of Schaerbeek, about 2 miles NE of the modern centre of Brussels.  Photographs from the early years of the 20^th century show Boulevard Lamberment to be lined by elegant apartment buildings and substantial villas.  Belgium was invaded by Germany early in the war, on 4 August 1914 and the occupation of the country was essentially complete by the end of the month. Georges Goffart was a prisoner of war at Wolterdingen (the sister camp to Soltau) during WW1.  It is not known if he was a member of the Belgian Armed Forces, or if he was a civilian prisoner but probably the latter.  Some Belgian civilians who declined to work “voluntarily” for the invaders were incarcerated as a consequence.

During his time in Soltau, Georges’ artistic talents must have been recognised because he took over the decoration of the interior of St Mary’s Church, Soltau, which was built in 1915.  In 1919 Georges Goffart moved to Paris and there he received a gold medal from the Salon Paris-Clichy in 1921. Before the end of WW2, in 1944, he moved back to Soltau to work as an art teacher in Adult Education and in 1955 he married Ilse Born.  She had been born in 1907 in Konigsberg (now Kaliningrad) but fled at the end of WW2 and settled in Soltau, where she worked as a teacher until 1954.  After this date she became a painter.

George Goffart worked in an impressionist style, producing landscapes, still life and some portraits.  His work has been exhibited in Charleroi, Paris, Luneberg, Rothenburg ob der Tauber (where he and Ilsa had a studio) and Soltau.  His pictures appear occasionally at auction, for example, “Vase of Flowers” painted in 1921 and “Hanna Meyerhoff” painted in 1946.  Today there is a street in Soltau, Georges-Goffart-Weg, named after him. A comparison of the signatures on known Georges Goffart paintings with that on the painting of Jack Hollis leaves no doubt that the painter of Jack Hollis was the same Georges Goffart.

Identifying Jack Hollis

How was “Jack Hollis” identified?  A search of RFC personnel records for aircrew with the surname “Hollis” and “J” or “John” as part of the given name or names and who had been PoWs in the European theatre, uncovered two candidates, John Augustus Hollis, born 1896 at Skirlaugh, near Hull and John Kenneth Hollis, born 1892 at Muzaffarpur, India.  A number of factors allowed a clear identification to be made.  John Augustus was an observer, so presumably he had not gained his wings, whereas John Kenneth was a pilot.  John Augustus was an officer, a Lieutenant, whereas John Kenneth was a Flight Sergeant, “unteroff.” as the German authorities recorded.  The German military was very hierarchical and generally sent officers and men to different prison camps.  The camps for ordinary soldiers (Mannschaftslager) typically held more than 12,000 prisoners, often in poor conditions, whereas the officers were generally kept in smaller camps, typically containing 500 or 600 men.  The two camps at Soltau, where John Kenneth was incarcerated, were typical of the camps for other ranks, whereas John Augustus was held at Osnabruck and Clausthal, both officer camps.  These data are consistent with the Jack Hollis in the painting being John Kenneth Hollis.  This is confirmed in the most direct way by reference to the flying roles of the two men, John Kenneth being a pilot and John Augustus being an observer.  During WW1 pilot testing was delegated to the Royal Aeronautical Club, which issued a licence to those who passed.  The proud young men who passed also had their photos taken and these photos are available on line.  There is no record of John Augustus receiving a licence from the RAeC but John Kenneth certainly did (No 4013) and his photograph is almost certainly of the same person as portrayed by Georges Goffart. 

This photograph was taken on or about 28 November 1916.  John Kenneth Hollis is smiling, as would be expected having just gained his wings.  In contrast the painting by George Goffart executed sometime in 1918 shows a man with a sombre and even ghostly countenance who has been through much.  The daily risk of death and injury in aerial combat against an enemy with superior equipment, the frequent loss of friends and colleagues and the almost inevitable  sortie when he did not return from patrol.  On this day he suffered gun shot wounds but still managed to land his aircraft and was subsequently incarceration in a camp with poor medical and living conditions for a year or more.  The painting is a haunting reminder of the stresses and hardships endured during WW1.

Can you help?

This story has been posted in the hope that others will be able to add to it.  Some of the more obvious questions are:-

How did Georges Goffart end up in Soltau camp?

How did Goffart and Hollis strike up a friendship?

What happened to Jack Hollis after the repatriation?

How did the painting end up in our possession?

Let us hope that the power of the internet will be equal to this task!

Don Fox

20150120, 20150128, 20150309

donaldpfox@gmail.com