Marshall, Alexander

Alexander Marshall was born in Berwickshire, Scotland, on 26 September 1882. It is not known when he immigrated to Canada.

A clerk, Marshall enlisted in the 72nd Canadian Infantry Battalion (Seaforth Highlanders of Canada) in Vancouver, British Columbia, on 16 October 1915. At the time of his enlistment, he was married and had one child. After initial training in Canada, he was shipped to England with his unit on SS Empress of Britain on 25 April 1916, embarking in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The unit disembarked in Liverpool on 5 May 1916.

In August 1916, promoted to acting lance corporal, Marshall proceeded to France with the 72nd Battalion. Three months later, on 14 November 1916, he was killed in action southwest of Pozières, during the Battle of Ancre. Marshall was buried in Pys British Cemetery, near the village of Pys, France. When the burials in that cemetery and other small surrounding cemeteries were moved after the war to Adanac Military Cemetery (the name being formed by reversing the name “Canada”), his grave could not be identified. He may be one of the 1,708 soldiers buried at Adanac, but his final resting place is unknown.

Alexander Marshall is commemorated on the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, on Vimy Ridge, in France.