[1] Holderness was born at Dunedin in 1889 and lived in the Mornington area of the city.
[2][3][4] During World War I he served as a field artillery gunner in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force.
[6] He was promoted to the rank of Bombardier and later served on the Western Front in France.
[7] A well known club cricketer who was considered "a really good bowler", Holderness won a junior representative cap for Otago before the war,[2] but made his only senior representative appearance against Southland in March 1919.
Opening the bowling for Otago, he took five-wicket hauls in both Southland innings, five wickets for 10 runs and five for 29, as he and Arthur Alloo bowled unchanged through the match to dismiss Southland for 41 and 55.