Alexander Barron was the son of Harold Stephen and Fanny Borthwick Barron of Lower Hutt, Wellington.

Barron was one of approximately 484 New Zealands who died on service with the Royal Navy. He was drowned when the Neptune sank off the coast of Tripoli.

132 New Zealand ratings went missing as a result of the loss of H.M.S. Neptune. HMS Neptune was launched at Portsmouth on 31 January 1933. She was one of five 'Leander' class light cruisers completed between 1933 and 1935. Two others were HMS Achilles and Leander serving in the RNZN. They displaced 7,200 tons, could make 32 knots and carried eight 6 inch guns and 550 crew. The Neptune was in the Mediterranean from 1 December 1941 as part of Force K which was searching for Axis shipping, especially those taking supplies to Rommel in North Africa. Early on the 19th the ships of Force K ran into a minefield.The Neptune hit three or four mines and sank. Trying to reach Neptune to assist, the destroyer Kandahar was mined and had to be scuttled the following day. Of the total crew of 766 there was only one survivor.He was rescued off a raft five days later by an Italian destroyer and spent the rest of the war in a prisoner of war camp. AWMM