Born in 1887 at Ealing, the eldest son of Jane and Arthur Holt (Bank Official) who became a Woodford Borough Councillor. 1901: A Scholar at Bancroft’s School, with his family at Broomhill Lodge Higham Road, Woodford Green. His father was a member of the Congregational Church, and Alec held the appointment of Secretary to the Woodford Congregational Guild. In 1910 while a Clerk in the Guardian Assurance Co. in Lombard Street, he took a business appointment in Singapore with Messrs Paterson Simons & Co. He also resigned his Acting Bombardier post with the 1st London Brigade Royal Field Artillery (Territorials) which he had joined in 1909.
In Singapore he joined the Singapore Volunteer Rifles, and was mobilised on the outbreak of war. He was shot and killed during the mutiny by some 815 members of the Indian 5th Light Infantry Regiment and 100 Malay States Guides Mule Battery which began on the afternoon of 15-02-15 and ended on 20th February 1915. His place of death, the German Internment Camp at Tanglin Barracks, shows he was one of the guards killed by the mutineers on the afternoon of 15th February when they sought supplies of ammunition, and tried to try to enlist the support of German detainees.
A road was named for him in Singapore; his name appears on the memorial in St Andrews Cathedral Singapore, and the Singapore Cricket Club.
Research by Adrian Lee, Local Historian
Principal Sources:
Ancestry.com
Woodford Times
Internet Roll of Honour
Singapore Mutiny Information
For more information on this individual please see The Old Bancroftian website.