Joseph Alfred Holt was born on 20th March 1888 in Bradford. He was the only surviving child of six born to Alfred Holt and his wife Betsey (née Wheelhouse) whose family were from Hipperholme, Halifax. By the time of the 1911 census Joseph was a buyer for a yarn merchant; living in Bradford with his parents and maternal grandfather John Wheelhouse, a former tanner and currier in Bailiff Bridge. A year later in 1912 Joseph married Mary Ann Cryer from Shipley, they had no children. They lived at 46 Nearcliffe Road, Bradford.

When WW1 started he joined the 6th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment. Then the Bradford Telegraph for 5th November 1915 had this report. DIED FROM WOUNDS Lance Corporal Joseph Alfred Holt of the First 6th West Yorkshire Regiment, son of Mr. Alfred Holt of Duckworth Terrace, Bradford, died in France on October 31st. Corporal Holt two years ago married the daughter of Mr John Cryer, of Cliff Wood Mount, Bradford Road, Shipley. Corporal Joseph Alfred Holt was buried in Duhallow A.D.S. Cemetery, Belgium.

But he also has a commemoration on his maternal grandfather's memorial in Lightcliffe churchyard which says:- Also of JOE HOLT the beloved grandson of the above who was killed in Flanders October 31st October 1915 AGED 27 years and is interred at Malakoff.