He was a member of the first expedition to Kamet in 1931, which included other stalwarts such as Eric Shipton and Frank Smythe.

[1] Holdsworth, along with Shipton and Smythe, are credited with the discovery of the Valley of Flowers, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, during their return from Kamet.

[1][2] Holdsworth was educated at Repton School, where he was a pupil of Victor Gollancz, later a famous publisher.

[3] He later attended the University of Oxford, where he read Literae Humaniores or Classics at Magdalen College.

[10] After leaving Harrow in 1933, he took over as principal of Islamia College in Peshawar, Pakistan (at the time in British India), in which position he served for seven years until 1940, when he joined The Doon School in Dehradun.