Sydney John Hollis

Gender:        Male

Birth:        Circa 1899 Hanley, Staffordshire

Residence: As of Apr 2 1911 - 53. Clarence Street, Basford Stoke on - Trent, Staffordshire, England

Age:        12

Occupation:        School

Father:        Benjamin Hollis
Mother:        Elizabeth Hollis

Siblings:        
Harrold Hollis
Mary Ellen Hollis
Ernest Hollis
Florence May Hollis
Lillian Hollis

If Sydney Hollis enlisted when he turned 16 (Inspired by his brother Harold who was in the Territorial Army according to the article) he would have joined either:

1/5th Battalion Territorial Force (TF) – mobilised in 1914, and served in France from 1915 to 1918.

1/6th Battalion TF – mobilised in 1914, served in France from 1915 to 1918.

I don't think that the TA paid too well in peacetime so best guess is that it was not the fact that brother Harold was in the Territorial Army that prompted him to volunteer, but the fact that on war being declared brother Harold was called up and his TA Unit mobilised for active service that inspired young Sydney Hollis to enlist. In which case Young Sydney would have been in Kitchener's "New Army" intake K3, and he would have gone to what they called "Service" Battalions i.e. those who joined and pronounced themselves prepared for duties overseas for "service in the line".

In 1914 it was the Regulars who fought
In 1915 the Regulars who were left were joined by the Reserves and the TA Battalions
In 1916 The survivors of the Regulars, the reserves and the TA were joined by the volunteers of Kitchener's New Army
In 1917 That is when the bulk of the conscripts started to arrive.

The cherry-picking if that is what you see it as is driven by the detail given in the article.

Joined up in 1914 with his best pal who has no-name, sorry his murdered best pal, whose name must have slipped his mind.

They served in France so that rules out all the Battalions of the North Staffordshire Regiment who did not serve in France (Good Cherry-pick that Raggy it removes loads from the list)

This summary execution took place 18 months after Sydney Hollis and his pal joined up which puts it some time between January 1916 and June 1916. This time frame eliminates Battalions who served in France after June 1916 (Another bit of Cherry-picking - that I will refer to as logic), so no need to read about the Battle of Cambrai as that was fought in 1918.

Now the Battalions of the North Staffordshire Regiment present in France were not engaged in any offensive operations in that period (As detailed by the Regimental History you provided Raggy) which begs the question why were Sydney Hollis + best pal whose name escaped him + beastly Officer (whose name also escaped Sydney) being sent "over the top"? Reasonable question don't you think?

Now Raggy put yourself in Sydney Hollis's shoes, your best pal, who you have served with since joining up is shot right there in front of you by one of your own Company Officers and you cannot remember even the most basic details of the incident? Come on pull the other one every single detail of that incident would be seared into your mind until eternity.