Walter Alexander

Medals are shown left to right, as per the bullet point list above.

Born at Rathmindon, County Carlow, Ireland in September 1872, Walter Lorenzo Alexander joined The Yorkshire Regiment in 1892. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1896 (serving in the Tirah campaign), Captain in 1900, Major in 1906 and Lieutenant-Colonel in September 1914.

Alexander proceeded to Zeebrugge in October 1914 with 2nd Battalion and took part in the fighting at Ypres where he was wounded at Gheluvelt. He returned to the front in December and commanded the Battalion at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle on 12 March 1915.

He was killed by a shell fragment fired from a British gun at Festubert on the 14 May 1915. The Battalion War Diary recorded, “He was on his way down to the trenches with Major Stansfield to visit ‘C’ and ‘D’ Companies. The trenches held by the Battalion were considerably shelled and ‘C’ Company lost five killed and 11 wounded.”

For his services in the field, Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander was mentioned in Sir John French’s Despatches of 31 May and 30 November 1915.

Alexander was buried at Le Touret Military Cemetery where the epitaph on his headstone reads:
HIS LIFE FOR HIS COUNTRY
HIS SOUL WITH GOD