Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthDecember 6, 1893
Place of BirthIrvine, Aryshire
CountryScotland
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinMrs Agnes McAlpine, sister, 393 Logan Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Trade / Callingfarmer
ReligionMethodist
Service Details
Regimental Number461371
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion27th Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at Enlistment393 Logan Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Date of EnlistmentJanuary 24, 1916
Age at Enlistment22
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathApril 11, 1936
Age at Death42
Buried AtLake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora, Ontario
Plot40E-29-3

Paterson, Alexander Stewart

Alexander Stewart Paterson was born on 6 December 1893 in Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland. His father William Paterson was from Wigtownshire while his mother Rebecca Stewart was from Ardrosson, Ayrshire. The couple had married in 1874 in Dalry, Ayrshire. In various censuses William’s occupation was listed as farm labourer, potato merchant, and ploughman. For a number of years the family lived in Dalry before moving to Irvine around 1892. Alexander had seven older siblings, Elizabeth, James, Sarah, William, Agnes, Jane, and John. It appears that Sarah died in childhood as he had a younger sister also named Sarah.

In 1906 Alexander’s sister Agnes immigrated to Canada, arriving in Montreal in mid June aboard the Mongolian and on her way to Winnipeg to work as a domestic. In 1908, in Winnipeg, she married Alexander McAlpine and in the following years the couple gave birth to two children, Robert Alexander and Margaret Madden. In 1913 Agnes and the two children travelled to Scotland for a visit, returning to Canada in October of 1914 on the Pretorian that arrived in Quebec on the 21st. Alexander was also on board, destination given as Orche River in Manitoba.

Alexander signed his attestation papers in Winnipeg on 24 January 1916, giving his birth year as 1896. Although he gave his occupation as farmer he had been living with his sister Agnes on Logan Avenue in Winnipeg and listed her as his next of kin. Organized in May of 1915 with recruitment in Winnipeg, the 61st Battalion embarked from Halifax on 11 April 1916 aboard the Olympic. On board was Private Alexander Paterson.

Upon arrival in England Alexander was admitted to the Westminster Road Auxiliary Hospital in Liverpool suffering from pneumonia. A month later he was transferred to a convalescent hospital in Uxbridge with discharge on the 22nd May. In July he was taken on strength with the 11th Reserve Battalion at Shorncliffe and by August had joined the 27th Battalion in the field in France.

Not long in France Alexander was wounded on the 1st of October at the Somme. With a gunshot wound to his foot he was admitted to the No 13 General Hospital in Boulogne before being invalided to the 1st General Hospital in Birmingham. In January of 1917 he was transferred to the Bearwood Canadian Convalescent Hospital in Wokingham, Berkshire with discharge in mid February. It was September of 1917 before Alexander rejoined the 27th in France.

On 16 September 1918 Alexander was once again wounded, this time with shrapnel wounds to his leg. He was treated at the No 32 Stationary Hospital in Wimereux before being invalided to the Alexandra Military Hospital in Cosham, England. After further recuperating at Woodcote Park in Epsom Alexander was taken on strength with the 11th Reserve Battalion at Seaford on November 22nd. He returned to Canada aboard the Saturnia the following June and was discharged from service in Winnipeg on July 1st.

Although Alexander gave his intended place of residence upon discharge as Winnipeg he moved to northwestern Ontario where he first found work as a lumberman with the Keewatin Lumber Company and then with the McNamara Construction Company. He was a member of the Kenora Branch of the Canadian Legion.

Alexander died on 11 April 1936 at the Commercial Hotel in Kenora. At the time of his death he was survived by his sister Agnes in Winnipeg. Alexander is interred in a military plot in the Lake of the Woods Cemetery in Kenora.

by Judy Stockham

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