page_title: Alfred Holmes
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: Alfred Holmes / Career
caption_attribution_description: English: Sgt. Alfred Holmes alongside two Gibraltar Barbary Macaques, looking down on the city of Gibraltar.
context_page_description: Sgt. Alfred Holmes BEM was a Gibraltarian sergeant of the Gibraltar Regiment. He was a well remembered Officer-in-Charge of the Apes who held this position, caring for the Gibraltar Barbary macaques, for over 38 years. He described the macaques as "Gibraltar's greatest treasure".
context_section_description: In the 1950s, Holmes enlisted in the Gibraltar Regiment where he later ascended to the rank of sergeant. He was appointed as a non-commissioned officer of Officer-in-Charge of the Apes.
  From 1913 to 1991 the Gibraltar Barbary macaques have been the responsibility of the British Army, which appointed a non-commissioned officer from the Gibraltar Regiment as Officer-in-Charge of the Apes. Holmes took over responsibility for the macaques from Gunner William Portlock, becoming the first Gibraltarian with this charge. During his service, Sgt. Holmes fed, nursed, and guarded the monkeys, generally working to maintain their well-being. He knew all of the macaques by the names he himself had given them. They were mostly named after Governors, brigadiers and high-ranking officers as well as his children. Sgt. Holmes could communicate with the animals by means of eye signals and barely perceptible head movements which he would use to stop them from taking food offered to them by tourists. He would even take young orphaned monkeys to his wife to help rear at home. He would also take sick or injured monkeys to the Royal Naval Hospital where they would receive the exact medical treatment as an enlisted soldier. For his work with the macaques, he was best known locally by the nickname of "El de los monos" (Spanish: He of the monkeys).
  Sgt. Holmes' time in the job made him an authority on this group of Barbary macaques, with his knowledge being sought by various scientific studies on the monkeys from around the globe.
caption: Sgt. Alfred Holmes alongside two Gibraltar Barbary macaques, looking down on the city of Gibraltar.
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