6th Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment (British Army)
Date Of Birth:
29/07/1895
Died:
03/09/1916 (Killed in Action)
Age:
21
Summary
Alexander McDonald was the son of William and Lizzie McDonald. He was born 29th July 1895 in Kilrea. The family lived in Coleraine Street. Alexander’s father appears to have died on in Kilrea on 22nd November 1901, aged 45. Private Alexander McDonald was serving with the 6th Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment when he was killed in action at France & Flanders on Sunday 3rd September 1916. He was 21 years old.
Further Information
Alexander McDonald was the son of William and Lizzie McDonald. William McDonald married Elizabeth Gilmore on 12th March 1885 in the district of Ballymoney.
Alexander McDonald was born 29th July 1895 in Kilrea.
Known family: William McDonald, Lizzie McDonald, Mary Anne McDonald (born 18th January 1886), Catherine McDonald (born 27th January 1888), Elizabeth McDonald (born 11th July 1890), William James McDonald (born 24th December 1892), Alexander McDonald (born 29th July 1895).
The 1901 census lists Alexander as age 7 living with the family at house 15 in Coleraine Street, Kilrea, County Londonderry. His father was described as a ‘dealer’.
Alexander’s father, William McDonald, appears to have died on in Kilrea on 22nd November 1901, aged 45.
The 1911 census lists Alexander as age 15 boarding with his mother and sister at house 55 in Coleraine Street, Kilrea.
Alexander McDonald enlisted in Coleraine.
Private Alexander McDonald was serving with the 6th Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment when he was killed in action at France & Flanders on Sunday 3rd September 1916. He was 21 years old.
Private McDonald has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916.
Alexander’s brother William McDonald also served during the war. He was a prisoner of war for more than two years.
