Born at Clochcore in the parish of Campsie, Stirlingshire on 13 March 1881, Alexander Wishart was the fourth of six children born to a forrester named David Wishart, and his wife, Mary Stewart. When he was old enough, Alexander got a job as a farm labourer and was boarding in the village of Bridston at the time of the 1901 census.

At the time war broke out Alexander was working as a gamekeeper and enlisted in Strathblane on 31 August 1914. He joined the 1st Scots Guards and following a period of training left for France at the start of February 1915 and joined his unit as part of a draft that arrived with the battalion on 2 March.

Unfortunately, Alexander’s service papers have not survived, so it is not known which battles he was present at over the next two years; however, it is recorded that he took part in the action at Ypres on 31 July 1917 and suffered a gunshot wound to his right hand. Before this, he married a London girl named Margaret Helen McCracken in Kensington on 4 November 1916 with at least one child born of the marriage after the war.

Following demobilisation in 1919, Alexander returned to Scotland with his wife and lived in Dunbartonshire, where he was employed as a gardener. Alexander died of heart disease at home in Clydebank on 14 June 1952.

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