Major A. L. Holt,

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

, MC (1896–1971) was a British military officer and explorer. In the 1920s while a member of the Royal Engineers, Holt led a number of motorized expeditions through the deserts of

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...

, the first time such long journeys had been undertaken with such a large number of vehicles. In 1921 Holt was involved in creating a track across the Syrian Desert from

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...

to the eastern edge of the Basalt Desert in

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

, which was to act as a guide track for the pilots of the Cairo – Baghdad air route. In 1923 Holt took

Rose Wilder Lane Rose Wilder Lane (December 5, 1886 – October 30, 1968) was an American journalist, travel writer, novelist, political theorist and daughter of American writer Laura Ingalls Wilder. Along with two other female writers, Ayn Rand and Isabel Pa ...

, journalist B.D. MacDonald and Holt's wife by car across the same desert. Holt traveled on occasion with St. John Philby and

Gerard Leachman Lieutenant-Colonel Gerard Evelyn Leachman, CIE, DSO (27 July 1880, Petersfield, Hampshire – 12 August 1920, Iraq) was an English soldier and intelligence officer who travelled extensively in Arabia. Career Leachman was commissioned a second ...

. In 1923 he proposed a route for a trans-Arabian railway which he had personally surveyed in 1922 by automobile. He writes, The railway was never built.

References

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Photographs from Holt and St John Philby's 1922 expedition for the railway
1896 births 1971 deaths British explorers English explorers Explorers of Asia Explorers of Arabia Members of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Military Cross Recipients of the MacGregor Medal Royal Engineers officers {{UK-explorer-stub