Alec was born in Cheltenham, the second son of the Ven. Henry Lawe Corry Vully de Candole and Helen (Edith) née Thompson, and the only sibling of Henry Handley Vully de Candole.
Alec was educated at St Faith's,[REF] Cambridge; in 1908 he went to St Andrew's, Southborough (which was destroyed by fire on 8 February 1919).