Private Alexander MacNair

Private Alexander MacKenzie MacNair, 5th Battalion ( Western Cavalry ), Canadian Infantry. He was killed in action in France on 24th May 1915 aged 27.He was the son of Mary of Camptown, Jedburgh and John of South Africa who had been a schoolmaster at Edgerston school. He is commemorated on the Vimy Memorial, Vimy, France. He had served his apprenticeship in the Royal Bank of Scotland in Jedburgh before emigrating to Canada where he had worked in the Union Bank in Vidoria. Saskatchewan. He enlisted at Maple Creek in September 1914 and landed with his Battalion in France in February 1915. He fell during the Battle of Festubert which was fought between 15th-25th May and where the Canadians suffered casualties of 2,200 casualties until relieved on 25th May. The photographs show the area around Festubert during the Battle.