Alexander Paterson was born on 24th January 1880. His place of birth is given as “Old Town, Milngavie”. While this sounds like a general description, it appears as an address in the 1881 Census so clearly referred to a well-defined street or area, possibly near Gavin’s Mill (modern Tesco store).
His mother was Mary Stewart, a domestic servant at the time. Mary was from Sanna on the Ardnamurchan peninsula and the census records she spoke Gaelic as well as English. His father appears to be Alexander Paterson, a joiner – but he was born ‘out of wedlock’.
In the 1881 Census, his parents were not living together. Mary was now working as a paper maker in a local mill and they lodged with Helen Buchanan, a 46-year old widow, who was a farm worker (possibly at Crossvegatte Farm).
By 1891 Census Alexander lived with both his parents, three younger sisters and a younger brother number 9, Fifth Row in the settlement called Garscadden Rows. From the places they were born, we can deduce they had spent much of the 1880s in Milngavie, moving around 1888-9.
Of all the areas of the New Kilpatrick parish, Garscadden Rows is probably the one we know least about today. Located beside Peel Glen Road, this is how it looked on the 1896 mapp:
And here is approximately the equivalent satellite view today:
In the 1901 Census Alexander’s occupation was coal miner and in 1911 it was gamekeeper (they had now moved to number 94, Third Row, Garscadden. We don’t know where he was employed, but possibly on the nearby estate of Garscadden House.
Some time between 1911 and 1916 he got a job as a gamekeeper in Lochgoil and lived at Cuilmuich Farm by Carrick Castle:
With a Google Earth view taking in Carrick Castle, just to the south:
Garscadden Rows were cleared and demolished in 1926-7 by the council on public health grounds.
Alexander joined up in May 1916. For help with aspects of his time in the army, I am indebted to experts from The Great War Forum website including Tom Lang, Lost in Tilloy, Jink20, and Matlock1418.
This portrait of him probably comes from about this time:
Initially he was a driver in the Royal Artillery. Guns were drawn by a team of horses (often six) managed by three drivers.
He transferred to the 3rd/1st Lovat Scouts possibly within a couple of months – these were men fieldcraft, marksmen, etc who had probably been gamekeepers, poachers, or similar in civilian life.
Assigned to frontline service, the details of where he served are not available but in May 1917 he was in a convalescent camp, suffering from shell shock (a nervous condition from time under fire).
By November 1917 the Lovat Scouts were being used in smaller groups attached to brigades, divisions etc. It seems likely he was attached to 5th Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery.
The nature of the Scouts suggests he might have been in No Man’s Land with an officer who was observing the fall of the British artillery shells and reporting this back to correct the guns’ aim.
In November 1917 5th RFA supported 1st Infantry Division in the very final stages of the Passchendaele campaign.
The circumstances around his death are not known but this took place on 14th November 1917 and he was buried at a cemetery set up near a casualty clearing station several miles behind the front line.
It’s known that on 10th November the 1st Division attacked in support of the main attack on the village of Passchendaele and by the 14th they were being taken out of the front line under heavy shellfire. Alexander was most likely wounded, fatally, during this period.
With characteristic grim humour the cemeteries at the three casualty stations were named Bandighem, Dozinghem and Mendinghem. Alexander is buried in Dozinghem. Here’s the modern walking route between where he was probably wounded and where he died, although in 1917 he probably went via Ypres, a distance of about 30 kilometres:
On his headstones are the words “Rest in Peace”, seemingly chosen by this father.
The attack on the 10th was the final one of the campaign so Alexander must have been one of the last of the 275,000 British and Commonwealth troops to die there.