Lance Corporal Alexander Marshall

Lance Corporal Alexander Marshall, 72nd ( Seaforth Highlanders of Canada ) Battalion, Canadian Infantry. He was killed in action in France on 14th November 1916, aged 33 and is commemorated on the Vimy Memorial, Vimy, France. He was the son of Margaret and the late William James Marshall of Northumberland Avenue, Berwick and the husband of Nan Johnston Marshall of 7-1407 Robson Street, Vancouver, British Columbia. He fell whilst serving his machine gun during the Battle of the Ancre which was the last major Operation of the Battle of the Somme. He had been educated at Berwick British school under Mr Willitts and after emigrating to Canada he was employed by the British Columbia Electric Company in Vancouver. He enlisted in October 1915 and arrived in France on 12th August 1916. By November the autumn rains had turned the battlefield into a glutinous quagmire making movement very difficult as the photographs show. The colour image shows a peaceful Somme landscape today “with no gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now”.