Research on Colour Sergeant Alexander Alexanders shows the following
dates of rank, campaign service, and army appointments related to his 21
years 21 days (1844-1865) service in the British Army:[1]
Birth & Enlistment:
Alexander Alexanders was born in the Parish of Banff, near the Town of
Banff, in the County of Banff, in June of 1822. At the age 22 ½ years,
he enlisted in the 2nd Battalion of the Scots Fusilier Guards
at Aberdeen, Scotland on the 26th of December 1844. He was assigned
the regimental number 3221.
Physical Description:
Alexander's physical description at the time of his discharge shows that
he was 6 feet 1 inches tall, had a fair complexion, hazel eyes, and brown
hair. His trade is listed as a gardener.
Medical Information:
His medical record is signed as a blank form in his soldiers documents.
Statement of Army Promotion, Conduct, and Campaign Service:
Alexander Alexanders was appointed to Private on the 26th of December 1844. He would rise through the ranks rapidly. He was promoted to Corporal on the 9th of December 1846. On the 9th of June 1852 he was promoted to Sergeant. He was never tried by Court Martial or listed in the Regimental Defaulters Book during his entire period of service.
Alexander Alexanders received his first Good Conduct pay on the 26 th of December 1849 and would have received regular good conduct pays throughout his service had he not been promoted. At the time of his discharge he would have been in possession of his fifth Good Conduct pay. He was promoted to Colour Sergeant on the 16th of September 1857.
Colour Sergeant Alexander Alexander's overseas and campaign service includes the following. He served as a Sergeant with in the Crimean War from the 28 th of February 1854 to the 25th of May 1855. He earned the Crimean War campaign medal with bars for the battles of Alma, Inkerman, Balaclava, and Sebastopol and the Turkish medal. He was lucky to have survived the storms, the cold, the illness, and the battles of the Crimean War.
After the Crimean War he was to serve as a Colour Sergeant with the 2
nd battalion of the Scots Guards in Canada from the 20th
of December 1861 to the 18th of September 1864. During this
period great alarm had been caused in Canada by the American Civil War.
He was awarded the medal for Long Service and Good Conduct before his discharge
from the service.
Conduct and Discharge Statement:
Colour Sergeant Alexander Alexanders was discharge at Shorncliff in consequence of having completed twenty one years and twenty one days service on the 29 th of December 1865. At the time of discharge his character was, "that of a very good and efficient non commissioned officer, zealous in the performance of all his duties, trustworthy, and sober." His intended residence at the time of discharge is listed as London. He was later awarded the medal for Meritorious Service with a 10 pound annuity about 1880 for his life spent as a soldier of the British Army. His name appears only once in the Army Estimates of 1881 suggesting that he died that year or the next.
Colour Sergeant Alexander Alexanders medals include the Victorian Meritorious Service Medal named to "COLr. SERGt. A. ALEXANDER, late SCOTS GUARDS ", an unnamed Crimean War Medal with clasps Alma, Balaclava, Inkermann, and Sebastopol, and the Turkish Crimea Medal.
[1] The details of Clr. Sgt. Alexanders' services are compiled from his Soldiers Documents: PRO : WO97/1377.