Capt Arthur de Bells Adam (MC)
1885 - 1916

CPL David Wallace Crawford
1887 - 1916

Lce-Corpl John Joseph Nickle
1894 - 1916

Pte 17911 Morton Neill
1897 - 1916

Lieut Edward Stanley Ashcroft
1883 - 1918

L/Cpl 17073 Alexander MacDonald

Age: 23
From: Liverpool
Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
K.I.A Wednesday 8th May 1918
Commemorated at: Tyne Cot Memorial
Panel Ref: Panel 31-34

Alexander MacDonald was the son of Catherine Evans, who was born in Liverpool in the June quarter of 1868. She married Archibald Duncan MacDonald in 1888. and their son, Alexander George, was born in Walton, Liverpool, on 29th June 1893. He was baptised (McDonald) on 19th July 1893 in St. Francis de Sales R.C. Church, his parents’ residence given as 4 Wyndham Street. (However, on enlistment, Alexander gives his religion as C of E). His father was born in Bootle in 1866, and worked as a marine engineer. Alexander had two older sisters, Georgina, born in 1890, and Catherine in 1891, both also baptised Catholic. His mother is not found with the family on censuses.

In 1901 George, his father and sisters, are boarders at 96 Flinders Street, Kirkdale, with Jessie Todd and her children. His father, 34, is a marine engine fitter, listed as married, but his wife is not in the household. Georgina is 11, Catherine 10, and Alexander 8.

His father died in Mill Road Hospital in 1905, aged 38, and was buried in the non-conformist section of Anfield Cemetery.

In 1911 his sister Georgina, 20, is a domestic servant in Sefton Park. She later emigrated to Canada. In 1911 his sister Catherine married George Stanton Sloan in a C of E ceremony.

The 1911 Census shows Alexander McDonald living at 62 Orient Street with his grandparents George Evans a retired 72 year old retired commision agent who was born in Carlow, Ireland. His grandmother Julia a 66 year old born in Wexford, Irleand. Also present in the household are their children, George, Henry and Harriet. Alexander is 17 and a Clerk in a shipping office (Cunard).

He enlisted in Liverpool on 03rd September 1914, as Private 17073, joining the 18th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment, giving his occupation as clerk, and his age as 20 years and 60 days (according to his birth and baptism record, he would have been 21). He is described as being 5’ 3 and a quarter inches tall, weighing 112 lbs, with a sallow complexion, hazel eyes, and dark hair. He gave his next of kin as Catherine McDonald of 62 Orient Street, Everton. Note the different spelling from that with which he is recorded as serving under.

From the 23^rd September 1914 he was billeted at Hooton Park Race Course and remained there until 03^rd December 1914 when they moved into the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 18th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain.

Alexander shipped to France with his battalion on 07th November 1915.

At the Battle of the Somme which began on 01st July 1916, Alexander was wounded on 03rd July, and admitted to No.2 Stationary Hospital, with a shrapnel wound to the left foot. He was evacuated to England on 05th July on the Hospital Ship Marmara, and admitted to Old Vicarage V.A.D. Auxiliary Hospital near Dereham in Norfolk. He was discharged on 18th August.

Whilst in the U.K. he was posted to the 3rd Garrison Bn K.L.R. At Fort Hubberstone Barracks in Pembrokeshire, on 13th March 1917, he reported sick. At Cosheston, also in Pembrokeshire, on 23rd April 1917, he was confined to barracks for five days and forfeited three days’ pay for overstaying draft leave 38 hours.

He returned to France on 16th May 1917, and was posted to the 17th Battalion K.L.R., returning to the 18th on 02nd June 1917, and joined the battalion in the field on 03rd June 1917.

He was appointed unpaid Lance Corporal on 16th August 1917, and appointed paid on 15th October 1917.

He was attached to 75th Tunnelling Company on 16th(?) December 1917, rejoining his battalion on 05th January 1918.

Alexander was reported wounded on 08th May 1918, and his mother informed as such, “hospital not yet known”, but about a month later was declared missing from that date. His mother, living at 17 Mere Lane, Everton, contacted the International Red Cross but was notified in a reply dated 04th September 1918 that they held no information on Alexander.

His mother wrote in October requesting information about her son, missing since 8th May. His death was later presumed for official purposes as having occurred on 8th May 1918, aged 23, during the German Spring Offensive.

The Battalion diary for the day records:

"The 6th and 7th of May 1918 the Artillery fire of the opposing guns was heavy, the enemy using a large proportion of gas shells. At 3.00 a.m.on the 8th May 1918 the Hostile Guns put down a very high explosive barrage along the line with Gas shell."

His body was never found, he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium.

Those United Kingdom and New Zealand servicemen who died after August 16th 1917 are named on the Tyne Cot Memorial, a site which marks the furthest point reached by Commonwealth forces in Belgium until nearly the end of the war.

The Tyne Cot Memorial now bears the names of almost 35,000 officers and men whose graves are not known. The memorial, designed by Sir Herbert Baker with sculpture by Joseph Armitage and F.V. Blundstone, was unveiled by Sir Gilbert Dyett on 20 June 1927.

The memorial forms the north-eastern boundary of Tyne Cot Cemetery, which was established around a captured German blockhouse or pill-box used as an advanced dressing station.

His family placed a notice in the local press on 29th October 1918

A MISSING "PAL"

News is wanted of Lance Corporal A. MacDonald, 18th Battalion K.L.R. (late "Pals") reported wounded and missing since May 8. Information to Mrs Sloan 63 Watson Street, Birkenhead.

[The newspaper address may have been transcribed incorrectly as the Sloan's live at 103 Watson Street]

(Mrs. Sloan is either his sister Catherine or aunt Annie)

He earned his three medals.

Alexander is commemorated on the Cunard Memorial Plaques situated in the Church of Our Lady and St Nicholas, Liverpool.

Alexander is also commemorated in the book, "Clan Donald Roll of Honour 1914-1918".

The dedication reads,

"At the Call of Duty from the Four Corners of the Earth Came the Children of the Clan to Battle for the Right.

In many graves in many lands their gallant bodies sleep. Their spirits rest with God.

To their loved ones, bereaved of them, this Roll proclaims the price the Clan hath paid.

A token it is also, bringing pride to lighten grief for lives so well laid down.

For this we know: They yet shall live again."

His mother Catherine received his Army effects and a War Gratuity of £21-10s, and was awarded a pension of 6/- a week from January 1919, the amount varying, until settled at 7/2d in 1923. Her address at the time was 17 Mere Lane, Everton, which was the address of her younger married sister, Annie, who had married Peter Sloan, the brother of George Sloan, Catherine’s son-in-law.

In 1919 his mother provided information on Alexander’s living relatives; she states one brother, age 31, no name provided, and makes no mention of his sisters.

We currently have no further information on Alexander Macdonald. If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.

Killed On This Day.

(108 Years this day)
Tuesday 30th April 1918.
L/Cpl 29203 Valentine Alexander
26 years old

(108 Years this day)
Tuesday 30th April 1918.
Pte 27948 Joseph Atherton
26 years old

(108 Years this day)
Tuesday 30th April 1918.
Pte 51896 Richard Edward Banks
34 years old

(108 Years this day)
Tuesday 30th April 1918.
Pte 46630 Watson Bell
38 years old

(108 Years this day)
Tuesday 30th April 1918.
Lieut Roland Henry Brewerton
27 years old

(108 Years this day)
Tuesday 30th April 1918.
Pte 51708 Charles Norman Dod
21 years old

(108 Years this day)
Tuesday 30th April 1918.
L/Cpl 94246 Frank Emison
24 years old

(108 Years this day)
Tuesday 30th April 1918.
Pte 23056 John William Jones
27 years old

(108 Years this day)
Tuesday 30th April 1918.
Pte 49572 John Henry Leadbeater (MM)
27 years old

(108 Years this day)
Tuesday 30th April 1918.
Sgt 22462 James Lowe (MID)
25 years old

(108 Years this day)
Tuesday 30th April 1918.
Pte 51712 Edgar Domenico Murray
21 years old

(108 Years this day)
Tuesday 30th April 1918.
Pte 269899 Harry Pitts
21 years old

A total of 14 Pals were killed on this day. View All