MAJOR CLAUD H ALEXANDER

Claud Henry Alexander was born in Boulogne France in 1856. He attended Marlborough College. He took and passed the Army Entrance Exam in 1874 and joined the 99th (Duke of Edinburgh’s) Regiment of Foot. In 1878, the regiment went to Natal and fought in the Anglo-Zulu War (1879). He was involved at Inyezane and in the Battle of Gingindlovu. Claud returned to England in 1880, then returned to South Africa briefly in 1881 before being sent to India, where he served until 1896.

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Alexander was promoted to Captain of the Duke of Edinburgh’s (Wiltshire Regiment) in 1881 and to Major in 1894.

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The Duke of Edinburgh’s (Wiltshire Regiment) was formed as part of the 1881 Childers infantry regiment reforms by merging the 62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment and the 99th Duke of Edinburgh's (Lanarkshire) Regiment. These became the new unit's 1st and 2nd Battalions respectively.

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Claud Henry was married in 1896 to Irene Christine Tamplin in Dunster, Somerset. Their first daughter, Dorothy Alice, was born in Karachi, in October 1898, which was then in India, and is where the 1st Battalion were serving at the time. Claud Henry retired from the Army in December 1898. He then took part in the China Relief Expedition in 1900 (the multinational force that marched to rescue the besieged diplomatic legations in Peking in the summer of 1900) and the East Africa Expedition in 1902-1904.

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They had two more daughters, Rosemary Irene, born in 1900 and Nancy Stuart, born in 1902. In 1911, just before they moved into Weeke Gore, Dorothy Alice was living at home, whist Rosemary and Nancy were at the High House School, St Giles Hill, Winchester.

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In January 1915 he appears to rejoin the Army and the London Gazette described his promotion as 'special appointment'.  When he died, on 19th March 1915 at Weeke Gore, he on the staff of the Chief Censor. His CWGC grave is at West Hill cemetery, Winchester. (HGS MI for West Hill reference section E, 46). Although a CWGC grave, it is not in the standard CWGC style. It is located next to the main cluster of CWGC graves at West Hill.

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Irene died in 1958. The plural wording of the inscription on one side of Claud's grave - Our beloved parents - suggests that Irene may also be buried there, but the other side of the grave stone is not accessible.

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His mother, Lady Louisa Juliana Alexander, died in Boulogne in 1896.

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(High House became part of St Swithuns School - or maybe already was?)

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