Alexander Neil was a 27 year old baker from Helensburgh when he enlisted in March 1917 wishing to be a baker in the ASC. He became a gunner in the RGA. He was 5 ft 9 in. His mother was his next of kin.
He married clerks Mary Purdie Orr of Cumnock in September 1918 and moved officially to her address, Ormiston, Bank Avenue, Cumnock. I wonder how they met.
In early 1919 he had a non malignant growth surgically removed.
He was of good character.
On the 12 December 1919, his wife wrote to ask the reason he had not been demobilised. He was eventually demobbed on 20th Feb 1920. He was awarded a pension of 5/6 a week for 26 weeks as a result of less than 20% disablement due to "DAH" DAH means disorderly action of the heart, sometimes called “effort syndrome” or “soldier’s heart”. Often the result of stress or fatigue, it does not imply there was any organic disease. (from The Long Trail)
Corporal RGA 145538
After the war they moved to Scotstoun in Glasgow and had children Marion Edith in 1925, Claud Alexander in 1927 and Irene Mary in 1928. In 1942 they are all at 20 Borden Rd, Hillhead. He died there age 70 in 1959. He was a master baker. Widow Mary died in Glasgow in 1974.
Alexander on Cumnock Connections tree
Remembering WW1 soldiers with a connection to Cumnock in Ayrshire, Scotland, including those who survived and others not mentioned on the War Memorial. Researched by Cumnock History Group.
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