John Holt (composer)
John Holt was a leading change ringer and noted composer of peals on English full circle bells in the 18th century, and is described as a composer "..holding a position which is unique in the history of change ringing". One John Holt who was baptized at Christ Church Greyfriars on 31 March 1726 is suggested to have been him, although someone of the same name was also baptized in October of the same year at St Botolph's Aldgate, East Smithfield. He died in 1753, at the age of twenty-seven. Holt was not born into wealth, being described years later in the 1788 Clavis Campanalogia (a bellringing textbook) as "a poor unlettered youth", which could well account for his untimely death. By trade he was a shoemaker, but very little else is known about his personal life. Ringing career Although an underprivileged and illiterate working class member of society, John Holt became a very highly placed individual in the art of method ringing. Despite the fact that his ringing career spanned less than a decade, his contributions had incalculable impacts and he remains one of the most famous names in the history of the art. In some respects, however, his ringing