Alexander MacRae of Cromarty Scotland

[alexjr]

I have attached a copy of a family heirloom of sorts that i was going to restore when i started doing research on my Great Uncle. within the frame is a photo of my Great Uncle Alexander Macrae wearing a naval uniform. the death penny (its loose due to me handling it too much) has the characteristics of an army issue. at the bottom is an invitation to visit with King George VI and Queen Elizabeth June 7th 1939 in Niagara Falls Canada (they immigrated to Canada in the 20's) all the records i can dig up on him is that he was in the 6th Bn. Cameron Highlanders enlisted Jan 1916 died of wounds F & F Sept 17, 1916 S/21940. because he is wearing a naval uniform he had to have been in the navy, how can i go about researching his naval service prior to volunteering for the Highlanders Jan 1916?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, i have learned some but have much more to learn.

[John Morcombe]

Search the microfilm medal rolls ADM/171 for the Navy. It may be a common name, so be prepared to follow up quite a few. He had plenty of time to enlist & be discharged from the Navy prior to his enlistment in the Army. Can you see what is on his Naval Cap tally in the photo? You will have to search RNVR, RNR & RN Rolls. A fair task.

[joseph]

Alex,

Could it be one of these chaps?

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...mp;mediaarray=*

Regards Charles

[alexjr]

Search the microfilm medal rolls ADM/171 for the Navy. It may be a common name, so be prepared to follow up quite a few. He had plenty of time to enlist & be discharged from the Navy prior to his enlistment in the Army. Can you see what is on his Naval Cap tally in the photo? You will have to search RNVR, RNR & RN Rolls. A fair task.

thanks alot for the encouragement, i am having great fun with all this but finding some parts truly uphill battles, my family wants to lynch me because the lore is he was a navy but all my research points to an

infantry death of course the lore also includes death in flanders fields while rescuing an officer and being

hit in the stomach by artillery shrapnel. i am waiting for the national archives to digitize his will which they have from his pay book i am hoping that it will conclusivley be the proverbial smoking gun, i figured he may have volunteered for the navy and either was discharged or released from service to volunteer for the Camerons. thanks it gives me a starting point there is alot of work to do and i can use all the direction i can get, oh i can;t see anything on his cap in that photo its tilted way to far back and his hair is quite curly and frankly long for a naval cut.

thanks again

[alexjr]

Alex,

Could it be one of these chaps?

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...mp;mediaarray=*

Regards Charles

Hi i checked out the link and i do not think that any of those match up i was trying to figure out what the dates represent (date of birth maybe?) i have his birth registration Nov. 1, 1895 Ross & Cromarty to James Alexander Macrae, and Mary Macrae (nee Mackenzie) no middle name. thanks alot for your help it gives me another starting point seems to be alot of them and that my great uncle did a lot of living for a man that died before his 21st birthday

thanks

[alliekiwi]

Alex, you may be aware already that those birth registrations are sometimes not a true reflection of when the child was born. They can be a year or so older than the registration suggests, as sometimes it took awhile for the family to get to where they needed to do the registration, especially if they lived rurally. And since some places apparently charged money to register a birth, you're actually lucky that Alexander was registered at all.

But we wouldn't want to open another can of worms about his age with the family, if they're already to lynch you about the navy versus army!

Allie

[alexjr]

Alex, you may be aware already that those birth registrations are sometimes not a true reflection of when the child was born. They can be a year or so older than the registration suggests, as sometimes it took awhile for the family to get to where they needed to do the registration, especially if they lived rurally. And since some places apparently charged money to register a birth, you're actually lucky that Alexander was registered at all.

But we wouldn't want to open another can of worms about his age with the family, if they're already to lynch you about the navy versus army!

Allie

actually i have a copy of his birth registration and it was actually registered about 2 weeks after birth

the only irregularity i found that it records my great grandparents date of marriage as 5 months prior

to his date of birth (he was the oldest) but on Suzies born 1899 the date of marriage shows as July 20, 1894 as opposed to 1895 on Alexander's. it is a parish register for the countys of Ross & Cromarty. there are

no notations of fees i assume this was all recorded by the church. the story goes that there were so few

people in cromarty that they used the two presbityrians churches every other week. just a little more family lore

thanks again

[alliekiwi]

the only irregularity i found that it records my great grandparents date of marriage as 5 months prior

to his date of birth

That sort of memory loss can happen in the best of families.

But seriously, one thing that has been good about the computerisation of things these days is that names and dates [hopefully] are fairly consistent.

As for the time lapse between birth and registration, in my family it happened... Great Aunty Kate was most decidedly Not Amused - so the story goes - to find that she was actually a year older than she thought she was!

Allie

[alexjr]

That sort of memory loss can happen in the best of families.

But seriously, one thing that has been good about the computerisation of things these days is that names and dates [hopefully] are fairly consistent.

As for the time lapse between birth and registration, in my family it happened... Great Aunty Kate was most decidedly Not Amused - so the story goes - to find that she was actually a year older than she thought she was!

Allie

nothing like that that i cna think of but i do know someone like that in life

but not in my family

thanks

[per ardua per mare per terram]

'i was trying to figure out what the dates represent'

Those dates are dates are (usually) date of birth.

It doesn't look like he was here either: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...mp;mediaarray=*

Could you zoom in on each of the items seperately, it might help to identify things for you.

[alexjr]

'i was trying to figure out what the dates represent'

Those dates are dates are (usually) date of birth.

It doesn't look like he was here either: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...mp;mediaarray=*

Could you zoom in on each of the items seperately, it might help to identify things for you.

Hi i have inforamtion on all the pieces in the pictured memorial, the bottom item being an invitation from the City of Niagara Falls Canada to my Great Grandmother to an audience with King George VI and Queen Elizabeth June 7th 1939, i just finished researching through the archives of the Public Library of Niagara Falls yesterday reading newspapers dated June 6th through June 8th 1939 on microfilm, they make reference to two busloads of silver cross mothers and world war 1 amputees, our family lore says that his mother (my great grandmother) was a silver cross mother although i get a different story from veterans affairs in ottawa, my great uncle was scottish as was his mother and resided in scotland, the center is his death penny which based on my research is an army death penny based on the design of the "H" on Honour. my research says he was in the 6th bn Cameron Highlanders although the family lore says he went with the navy in that special brigade formed by churchill but i suspect he either finished his service and was discharged (which matches more of the lore which says he was discharged and volunteered again and got killed for his trouble while carrying a wounded officer off the field of battle hit in the guts by artillery) basically my quest here is to try to find records of his naval service prior to enlisting in the Camerons. the top photo shows him in a naval uniform but i have had almost no luck locating records of seamen of the day who were not killed in action, seems that finding out about someone who gave his life is a whole lot easier than one who served and was released.

thanks

[joseph]

Alex,

Only one set of records for Alexander MacRae in the Royal Naval Division;

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...p;resultcount=1

Regards Charles

[John Morcombe]

RND Records =

CZ/528 Alexander McRAE

born 22/9/1874

Wife, 30 Menzie St., Torry, Aberdeen.

Discharged MU 3/3/15.

CZ/7516 Alexander MacRAE

born 31/3/1890

Address: Bruernish, Isle of Barra.

Went to Sea-service April 1916.

Don't think it is either of them.

[horatio2]

Alex,

Only one set of records for Alexander MacRae in the Royal Naval Division;

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...p;resultcount=1

Regards Charles

With an RNVR No. Z/7316 (cannot tell which Division) this man probably did not enlist until late 1915. He certainly could not have been at Antwerp with the RND.

[alexjr]

Alex,

Only one set of records for Alexander MacRae in the Royal Naval Division;

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...p;resultcount=1

Regards Charles

i have followed up what leads i could find and no luck so far

i have his date of birth as nov 1st 1895

thanks

[alexjr]

RND Records =

CZ/528 Alexander McRAE

born 22/9/1874

Wife, 30 Menzie St., Torry, Aberdeen.

Discharged MU 3/3/15.

CZ/7516 Alexander MacRAE

born 31/3/1890

Address: Bruernish, Isle of Barra.

Went to Sea-service April 1916.

Don't think it is either of them.

no unfortunatley not one of them as his d.o.b. nov 1st 1895. i need to find out where the hard copies

are stored i am planning a visit to scotland to look up related materials that cannot be obtained on line

and i think his naval service and the nursing service of his sister will only be resolved by visiting locations

of records etc.

thanks

With an RNVR No. Z/7316 (cannot tell which Division) this man probably did not enlist until late 1915. He certainly could not have been at Antwerp with the RND.

thanks for digging its appreciated

[joseph]

Alex,

A direction to look would be the fishing boats, they actually formed the RNR(Trawler Section) if Alexander was a fisherman before the war thats the service he most likely joined. Is any badges visible on his photograph?. As an aside there is a lady on the forum (Sue Light) who is a marvel with the female nursing services and has really helped me in the past with a lady from Scotland. A post in the womens section may get an answer.

Regards Charles

[alexjr]

Alex,

A direction to look would be the fishing boats, they actually formed the RNR(Trawler Section) if Alexander was a fisherman before the war thats the service he most likely joined. Is any badges visible on his photograph?. As an aside there is a lady on the forum (Sue Light) who is a marvel with the female nursing services and has really helped me in the past with a lady from Scotland. A post in the womens section may get an answer.

Regards Charles

Thanks i have something up on the womans post for my great Aunt Sally (Sarah Isabella) as far as my Great Uncle i know his father is listed as a seaman in the Merchant Navy on the birth Registration and he

may have been awarded a medal for service, the picture i have in the frame is a naval uniform with no marks or insignias apparent, his hair is much to curly but my question is did the merchant navy wear a uniform like the one in the picutre? my grandfather (his younger brother) was also in the merchant navy from ages 14 thru 20 (beginning in 1914) there is no mention in our family lore of the merchant navy wearing that sort of uniform

thanks