Alexander Dear

Alexander Dear was the younger brother of William Dear, a watchmaker from Skerries, Ireland. Alexander and William often discussed William's feeling that the world was the product of a blind watcher, a kind of God-Machine who manipulated systems with indifference to the fate of individual gears. Alexander also dissuaded William from his fixation on the idea of building a clockwork android.

In September 1914, Alexander joined the army despite William's urging not to. He was killed in action a few months later in the Battle of St. Julien. William was devastated by his brother's death, but continued to compose letters to him.