Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthNovember 26, 1887
Place of BirthDundee
CountryScotland
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinMrs. James Scotland, Box 27, Kenora, Ontario
Trade / CallingLabourer/Painter
ReligionPresbyterian
Service Details
Regimental Number296
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion16th Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at EnlistmentKenora, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentAugust 17, 1914
Age at Enlistment26
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details

Scotland, Alexander Munro

Alexander Munro (Sandy) Scotland was among the first Kenora volunteers recruited through the 98th Regiment for service overseas, going with a group of 45 men to Valcartier, Quebec on Aug. 23, 1914.

Born in Dundee Scotland, he came from a large family. The 1891 Scottish census listed the family as James McDuff Scotland (age 39), Agnes nee Hardrige (36) and children Jessie (13), Annie (8 months), William (9), Peter (6) and Alexander (3). By the 1901 census three more children had been added to the family – John, Isabella and Agnes. James had passed away, leaving Agnes to care for the children. By the 1911 census Alexander was serving with the 2nd Battalion Blackwatch in India.

By 1914 Alexander had come to Canada and moved to Kenora, joining his brothers John and William, and sisters Agnes and Bella (Isabella) and his mother. His older brother John, a reservist with the Royal Engineers, had been called back to England to serve with his former regiment in late July.

Alex worked as a labourer and painter. A newspaper article noted he was popular in local football circles.

After training at Valcartier, Alex shipped overseas with the 8th Battalion (Winnipeg Rifles/Little Black Devils) as part of first Canadian contingent. Thirty men of the Kenora volunteers were part of the battalion. Alex shipped to France with the Canadian troops in February 1915 and was among the early casualties in the April 1915 fighting at St. Julien, suffering a shrapnel wound to his arm.

Sent back to England for treatment, a medical board determined in September he was unfit for frontline duty and recommended three months home service in Canada. In October that was changed to a medical discharge and Alex arrived back in Kenora on Nov. 10, 1915 only to find his mother and youngest sister Agnes, with whom he’d been living, had left for their former home in Scotland the month before. Shipping lists show they landed in Glasgow on Oct. 13, 1915 aboard the Pretorian, having sailed from Montreal the week before.

After spending time with his brother William and his sister Bella, Alex went to Winnipeg in January of 1916 and joined the 79th Cameron Highlanders, attesting for overseas duty a second time in March of 1916 with service number 860014. After a year in Canada and being transferred first to the 179th Overseas Battalion and then the 174th, he shipped overseas in late June of 1917, arriving once again in England on July 5, 1917. There he entered the army’s reserve battalion system, eventually being assigned to the 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish) and arriving in the France for a second time on March 29, 1918.

Alex was wounded a second time that summer, suffering a gun shot wound to his left forearm on Aug. 17, 1918. Hospitalized for several weeks and then assigned light duties with the army’s reserve depot, he rejoined the 16th Battalion for active duty in late December, returning to England with them in March 1919 and arriving back in Canada May 4, 1919 with a large group of other soldiers. The passenger manifest notes he’d be continuing on to Winnipeg to his brother’s. He was officially discharged from the CEF on May 10 in Winnipeg.

by Bob Stewart

 


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