Alexander Aitken was born in Kirkdale, Liverpool in the first quarter of 1895 the son of William Morton Aitken and Sarah (née Neal). His mother born in Liverpool, had married Charles Scott, a Police Constable, in 1888 in Nottinghamshire. They had a son John in 1889 and a daughter Sarah in 1891, both born in East Leake (a village in Nottinghamshire between Nottingham and Loughborough). Sarah was widowed in 1892 when her husband died at the age of 33. She moved back to Liverpool where she married Alex’s father in 1894.
After Alex’s birth they had a daughter, Dorothy May, in 1898.
At the time of the 1901 census Alex, with his mother and siblings, is living at 92 Great Mersey Street. His mother, 40, has four children. His half siblings John, 11, and Sarah, 9, are both now listed as Aitken. Alex is 6, and Dorothy 2. His father, 39, a master carter (corn) working on his own account, is a patient in the David Lewis Northern Hospital, Public and Charitable Institution in Leeds Street, Liverpool.
The 1911 Census shows the family are living at 8 Primrose Street, Kirkdale. Alexander is 16 years of age and is shown as an office boy (Steel). His father is shown as a Corn Trade salesperson born in Ayr, Scotland in 1861, whilst his mother was born in Liverpool in 1861.His half brother now known as John Scott Aitken 21, is a carter, general carrier, and Dorothy, 12, is at school.
Alex enlisted at St George's Hall, Liverpool in early September 1914. The 1914-1915 Star Medal Roll shows his regimental number as 17261, but the British War and Victory Medal Roll gives his regimental number as 15741 (this number, however, is attached to Joseph M. Stephens, 17th Bn., KIA 10/7/1916).
Formed on 07th September 1914 the 19th Battalion trained locally at Sefton Park and remained living at home or in rented accommodation until November 1914. They then moved to the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 19th 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.
Alex shipped to France with the 19th battalion, disembarking at Boulogne on 07th November 1915. In early January 1916 the Pals battalions took up position in the south of the Somme line near Carnoy.
On 11th March 1916 Alex was involved in an incident in which a comrade, Pte. Ankers, was accidentally shot.
A Court of Enquiry (required of any accidental or suspected self-inflicted wound) was held the same day. Ptes. Ankers and Aitken, among others, gave evidence:
Pte. Herbert Ankers 17262:
“I was on sentry duty this morning (11th March 1916) after stand down about 6:30 a.m. I looked into my rifle, found there were two cartridges in the magazine under the cut off. I fired them both and recharged at once with another clip of five […] five were under the cut off. The safety catch was b[ack?]. On the platform were two stanchions fixed by wire and I laid my rifle across the two wires. Pte. Aitken got up on the platform. I told him I’d been firing at a mound in the German trenches. After that I took no further notice. I was not sure whether he was relieving me or not. He picked my rifle up. I remained standing on the platform facing the German trenches. I was then hit.”
Pte. Alexander Aitken 17261:
“Pte. Ankers and I were on the firing platform about 6:30 a.m. this morning. Ankers’ rifle was lying on the parapet. He said, “Have a pot at that mound over there.” I picked up the rifle from the parapet and in bringing it to the aim it went off. I don’t know how. I was not relieving Ankers. The rifle was lying horizontal on the parapet. I was on sentry duty at the time this all happened.”
Commanding Officer Lieut. Colonel Llewellyn Stephen Denham recorded his findings:
“I am of the opinion that Pte. Ankers was accidentally wounded under circumstances which showed gross neglect of duty on Pte. Ankers’ part. I am also of the opinion that Pte. Aitken, by conversing with a sentry and thereby distracting his attention, is guilty of highly improper conduct.”
The proceedings of the Court of Enquiry were forwarded to the D.A.G. Base (Deputy Adjutant General), the evidence showing that there was “considerable slackness in the manner in which sentry duty was being carried out by these two men”.
Pte. Alexander Aitken was awarded 20 days Field Punishment No.1 for his improper conduct.
Pte. Ankers later died of his wounds.
Alex’s name (Pte. 17261) appeared in the list of Wounded published in the Liverpool Post & Mercury on 21st August 1916. The date suggests he was wounded during the fighting in Trônes Wood, 10th -12th July.
At some point, likely after recuperating from his wounds, Alex was transferred to the 22nd (Labour) Bn. Cheshire Regiment as Pte. 59767. The 22nd Bn was formed at Chester in December 1916 and deployed to France the same month. He was subsequently posted to the 16th Bn Cheshire Regiment. The 16th (2nd Birkenhead) Battalion was raised in late 1914 as a bantam battalion. They were in action in 1917 during the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line, and the action at Houthulst Forest, north of Pilkem, on 22nd October 1917, during the Third Battle of Ypres.
Alex was killed in action on 22nd October 1917, aged 22.
His body was either not recovered from the battlefield or was subsequently lost as he 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 mother died just one week after Alex, on the 29th of October, at the age of 56. It is quite possible that she died before learning of her son’s death. Her husband placed a notice in the local newspaper on 30th October.
Three days later, on 02nd November 1917, he placed another notice in the Liverpool Echo:
“October 25 [sic], killed in action, aged 22 years, Alex, youngest son of William and Sarah Aitken (now deceased), of 8, Primrose Street. Our hero, never forgotten by Brother John (in France) and Sister Marie.” (His half sister Sarah Scott Aitken does not appear on records after 1901. No records for Marie Aitken have been found.)
He earned his three medals.
His father, at 8 Primrose Street, was awarded a pension of 4/6d a week from May 1918. The pension card notes, “Killed in action admitted”. Alex’s Army effects and a War Gratuity of £14 went to his father.
In 1939 his father, 77, a retired corn traveller, is living at 242 Stanley Road, Kirkdale, with married daughter Dorothy Ogilvy 41, and her husband (Colin Campbell Ogilvy, who was the same age as Alex and had also served in the 19th battalion during the war).
His father later moved to Great Crosby and lived at 89 Manor Road. He died at 37 Queens Road, Formby on 15th December 1949, at the age of 87.
Alex is commemorated on the family headstone in Kirkdale Cemetery:
Pte Alexander Aitken
son of the above
killed in action in France
Oct 22nd 1917 aged 22 years
He is also commemorated on the following memorials -
Union Presbyterian Church, Kirkdale
Liverpool’s Hall of Remembrance, Panels 15 Left and 16 Right.
We currently have no further information on Alexander Aitken, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.
