Early Life — The Boy from Brighton

Born in Richmond, 1922

Alec Frank MacKelden was born on 9 August 1922 at 177 Lower Mortlake Road, Richmond, Surrey, the son of Frank Bowyer MacKelden and Cecily MacKelden (née Whing). His father was playing in an American Jazz band in St. Moritz at the time of his birth, leaving his mother to await the birth at her parents' home. The family name MacKelden, he later discovered, was almost certainly a Kentish spelling derivation of the Scottish clan name 'Macilldoun', originally associated with the McDonald clan.

Alec Frank MacKelden as a young child, seated on a bench holding a ball, c. mid-1920s — Alec aged 2–3 years old

Growing Up in Brighton

Much of Alec's early childhood was spent in Brighton, where his paternal grandfather Frank MacKelden — a master grocer and president of the Sussex County Grocers Guild — operated a large combined grocery and liquor shop at 148 Springfield Road. Alec remembered his grandfather with great fondness, recalling Sunday mornings at the Brighton promenade, visits to silent films, and the comforting smell of his grandfather's delivery horse and cart. His grandmother, by contrast, was a formidable figure who had married beneath her 'landed gentry' station into trade, and never let grandfather forget it.

The MacKelden grocery and liquor shop at 148 Springfield Road, Brighton, operated by Frank MacKelden — F. MacKelden's grocery shop, 148 Springfield Road, Brighton

A First Awakening

The first great sadness of Alec's young life came on Good Friday, 1 April 1932, when his adored younger sister Diana contracted cerebral meningitis. She died four days later on 5 April. He was not yet ten years old. He wrote in his memoirs:

"It was, I suppose, my first awakening to the awful realities of life — and it so seared me that throughout the years of my own children's childhood, not a night passed but that I prayed to God they not be taken from me."

Diana Mary MacKelden as a baby, Alec's younger sister — Diana Mary MacKelden — Alec's baby sister
Born 22 August 1930 · Died 5 April 1932
of Cerebral Meningitis

Canterbury & St. Dunstan's School

In November 1934, the family moved to Canterbury, Kent, where his father was appointed manager of a Mence Smiths hardware store. Alec enrolled at St. Dunstan's Church of England School. Despite considering himself no better than any other student, he was appointed House Captain and later Head Prefect, and represented the school in boxing, football and cricket. He was later reported by the Canterbury press to be the first old boy of St. Dunstan's to be decorated by His Majesty the King with the Military Cross.

St. Dunstan's Church of England School, Canterbury, Kent — St. Dunstan's Church of England School, Canterbury

The Gathering Storm

After completing his education, Alec briefly worked as a clerk at Fielding & Pembrook, Canterbury's leading firm of solicitors. He had also — after a "terrible altercation" between his parents — joined the Territorials as a cadet. On 3 September 1939, he was in bed with tonsillitis when Prime Minister Chamberlain announced the declaration of war on Germany. He was called up for service on 3 October 1939 — he was 17 years and 2 months old.

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain at the BBC microphone announcing Britain's declaration of war on Germany, 3 September 1939 — Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announces
Britain's declaration of war on Germany · 3 September 1939

"Mother, I think, in an attempt to comfort herself, expressed the view: 'Well, one good thing Alec, you are too young to be called up' — as if daring the Government to even try it."

— Alec MacKelden