Pte
Alexander Marshall
Information about birth
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Date of birth: 24/10/1886 |
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Place of birth: Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, United Kingdom |
General information
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Profession: Station Hand - Farm Hand |
Army information
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Country: New Zealand |
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Force: New Zealand Expeditionary Force |
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Rank: Private |
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Service number: 47277 |
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Enlistment date: 06/02/1917 |
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Enlistment place: Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand |
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Units: — Otago Regiment, 1st Bn. |
Information about death
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Date of death: 16/02/1918 |
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Place of death: Polygon Wood, Zonnebeke, Belgium |
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Cause of death: Killed in action (K.I.A.) |
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Age: 31 |
Cemetery
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Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood Plot: I Row: B Grave: 17 |
Distinctions and medals 2
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British War Medal Medal |
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Victory Medal Medal |
Points of interest 3
| #1 | Place of birth | ||
| #2 | Enlistment place | ||
| #3 | Place of death (approximate) |
My story
Private Alexander Marshall
Alexander Marshall was born in Paisley, Scotland on 24 October 1886, the son of Alexander and Margaret Ferry Marshall. He had been in New Zealand four years when he enlisted. By 1917 he worked as a farmhand at North-East Harbour, near Port Chalmers, Dunedin for [Ernest] Small. He was married but his wife Annabelle remained in Scotland. He listed four children, all daughters, on his enlistment.
Alexander signed his attestation papers on 16 February 1917, joining the 26th Reinforcement. For his time he was a sizeable man, weighing 190 lbs (13 stone 8 oz; 86kg) with a 41 inch expanded chest.
He trained at Trentham and Featherston camps and received 7 days confined to barracks for being being absent for two days and drunkenness. His reinforcement left Wellington on 9 June 1917 on the troopship Willochra,, arriving in Devonport, England on 16 August. He trained for two months at Sling Camp before leaving for France and on 18 October he joined 8th Company of 1st Otago Battalion.
After the Third Battle of Ypres closed in November 1917 the New Zealand Division, part of II Anzac Corps, took over a sector on the Ypres Salient. II Anzac frontage ran from Tiber pillboxes (1000m south of Passchendaele) to the Reutalbeek (stream) to the south – a distance of about 8000m. It covered the Polygon Wood area. The country was devastated, waterlogged and covered with the debris of war.
The New Zealand Division was heavily engaged in building defensive lines in this sector. An attempt to strengthen the right of the sector by capturing Polderhoek Spur and its ruined chateaux was made on 3 December, without success and with heavy losses. 1st Otago Battalion took part in this battle. Alexander reported sick on 5 December (exhaustion) and spent three weeks at 3rd NZ Field Ambulance.
After a brief period in camp behind the lines the 1st Otago Battalion moved back to the Polygon Wood sector on 8 February 1918. While in support, the battalion provided carrying parties and erected wire entanglements. The Battalion went into the front line in mid-February and it was during this period that Alexander Marshall was killed on 16 February. The opposing German forces generally held higher ground and movement in the New Zealand lines was often observed and shelled or machine-gunned.
He was buried in a cemetery close to his final burial place in Buttes New British Cemetery, Plot I, Row B, Grave 17. Two other soldiers of 1st Otago Battalion killed on 16 February were buried likewise.
Alexander Marshall was born in Paisley, Scotland on 24 October 1886, the son of Alexander and Margaret Ferry Marshall. He had been in New Zealand four years when he enlisted. By 1917 he worked as a farmhand at North-East Harbour, near Port Chalmers, Dunedin for [Ernest] Small. He was married but his wife Annabelle remained in Scotland. He listed four children, all daughters, on his enlistment.
Alexander signed his attestation papers on 16 February 1917, joining the 26th Reinforcement. For his time he was a sizeable man, weighing 190 lbs (13 stone 8 oz; 86kg) with a 41 inch expanded chest.
He trained at Trentham and Featherston camps and received 7 days confined to barracks for being being absent for two days and drunkenness. His reinforcement left Wellington on 9 June 1917 on the troopship Willochra,, arriving in Devonport, England on 16 August. He trained for two months at Sling Camp before leaving for France and on 18 October he joined 8th Company of 1st Otago Battalion.
After the Third Battle of Ypres closed in November 1917 the New Zealand Division, part of II Anzac Corps, took over a sector on the Ypres Salient. II Anzac frontage ran from Tiber pillboxes (1000m south of Passchendaele) to the Reutalbeek (stream) to the south – a distance of about 8000m. It covered the Polygon Wood area. The country was devastated, waterlogged and covered with the debris of war.
The New Zealand Division was heavily engaged in building defensive lines in this sector. An attempt to strengthen the right of the sector by capturing Polderhoek Spur and its ruined chateaux was made on 3 December, without success and with heavy losses. 1st Otago Battalion took part in this battle. Alexander reported sick on 5 December (exhaustion) and spent three weeks at 3rd NZ Field Ambulance.
After a brief period in camp behind the lines the 1st Otago Battalion moved back to the Polygon Wood sector on 8 February 1918. While in support, the battalion provided carrying parties and erected wire entanglements. The Battalion went into the front line in mid-February and it was during this period that Alexander Marshall was killed on 16 February. The opposing German forces generally held higher ground and movement in the New Zealand lines was often observed and shelled or machine-gunned.
He was buried in a cemetery close to his final burial place in Buttes New British Cemetery, Plot I, Row B, Grave 17. Two other soldiers of 1st Otago Battalion killed on 16 February were buried likewise.
Sources 1
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Byrne AE., Official history of the Otago Regiment, NZEF in the Great War 1914-1918, (Dunedin, J. Wilkie and Co, 1921), pg. 266-268. Sources used |
More information 5
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Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/480360 |
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Namenlijst (In Flanders Fields Museum) https://namenlijst.org/publicsearch/#/person/_id=42614343-4a77-48de-9bb4-139ce8971025 |
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Lives of the First World War (Imperial War Museum) https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/7179548 |
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The NZEF Project (UNSW Canberra) https://nzef.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=157914 |
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Online Cenotaph (Auckland Museum) https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/c10381 |