Ernest Alexander

Major-General Ernest Wright Alexander, VC, CB, CMG (2 October 1870 – 25 August 1934) was a British Army officer and an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

For other people named Ernest Alexander, see Ernest Alexander (disambiguation).

Ernest Wright Alexander
Born(1870-10-02)2 October 1870
Liverpool, England
Died25 August 1934(1934-08-25) (aged 63)
Kingsbridge, Devon, England
Buried
Putney Vale Cemetery, London
(51.440624°N 0.239389°W / 51.440624; -0.239389)
Service/branch British Army
Years of service1889–1934
RankMajor-General
UnitRoyal Artillery
Battles/warsFirst World War
AwardsVictoria Cross
Companion of the Order of the Bath
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
Mentioned in Despatches
Knight of the Order of Savoy (Italy)
Grand Officer of the Order of Aviz (Portugal)
Croix de Guerre (France)

Military career

Alexander was trained at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery as a second lieutenant on 27 July 1889. He was promoted to lieutenant on 27 July 1892, and to captain on 26 December 1899.[1][2]

Action at Elouges

At the age of 43, as a major in the 119th Battery Royal Field Artillery during the First World War, he was awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry. On 24 August 1914, during the action of Elouges in Belgium, when the flank guard was attacked by a German corps, Alexander handled his battery against overwhelming odds with such conspicuous success that all his guns were saved notwithstanding that they had to be withdrawn by hand by himself and volunteers led by a Captain (Francis Octavus Grenfell) of the 9th Lancers. This enabled the retirement of the 5th Division to be carried out without serious loss. Subsequently, Major Alexander rescued a wounded man under heavy fire.[3]

He later attained the rank of major general. His medal group is on display at the Ashcroft Gallery in the Imperial War Museum, London.[4]

Death
Alexander's grave at Putney Vale Cemetery, London, in 2015

Alexander died in his 64th year on 25 August 1934 at Kingsbridge, Devon, his body was buried at Putney Vale Cemetery.[5]

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gollark: It's in the PIL, though I'm working from memory here.
gollark: Gsub replaces stuff in strings by regex. Er, pattern.
gollark: Oops.
gollark: ```luastring.gsub(text, "\\(%d{,3})", function(x) return string.char(tonumber(x)) end)```or something?

References
  1. "No. 27163". The London Gazette (Supplement). 9 February 1900. p. 909.
  2. "No. 27168". The London Gazette. 23 February 1900. p. 1257.
  3. "No. 29074". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 February 1915. p. 1699.
  4. "Ernest Wright Alexander VC". Lord Ashcroft Medal Collection. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  5. "Ernest Wright Alexander VC". VC Online. Retrieved 29 June 2020.

Further reading
  • Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross (Richard Doherty & David Truesdale, 2000)
  • Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
  • The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
  • VCs of the First World War - 1914 (Gerald Gliddon, 1994)
  • Liverpool VCs (James Murphy, Pen and Sword Books, 2008)


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