Alexander MCKINNON

MCKINNON, Alexander

Service Numbers: 764, 2674
Enlisted: 29 January 1916, Lismore, New South Wales
Last Rank: Lance Corporal
Last Unit: 4th Pioneer Battalion
Born: Woodburn, New South Wales, Australia, 11 March 1881
Home Town: Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Carpenter
Died: Natural causes, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 26 December 1940, aged 59 years
Cemetery: Mount Thompson Memorial Gardens & Crematorium, Queensland
Memorials: Pialba War Memorial
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Boer War Service

1 Jan 1900: Involvement Australian and Colonial Military Forces - Boer War Contingents, Trooper, 764, New South Wales Lancers

World War 1 Service

29 Jan 1916: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2674, Lismore, New South Wales
19 Sep 1916: Involvement Private, 2674, 4th Pioneer Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '5' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Seang Choon embarkation_ship_number: A49 public_note: ''
19 Sep 1916: Embarked Private, 2674, 4th Pioneer Battalion, HMAT Seang Choon, Brisbane
29 Jun 1919: Discharged AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 2674, 4th Pioneer Battalion

Help us honour Alexander McKinnon's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Madeleine Gray

Alexander McKinnon was born in Woodburn, New South Wales, on 11th March 1881. The school Alexander attended as a child has not yet been discovered and it is possible that he did not go to school at all because of the extremely small size (population and business wise) of the town he lived in. Alexander worked as a carpenter and was married to Clara McKinnon nee. Wilhemson. They did not have any children.

Alexander McKinnon enlisted into the military in Lismore, New South Wales, on 29th January 1916, he had already served previously in the Boer War. He embarked from Brisbane on the HMAT Seang Choon on the 19th September 1916, around eight months after enlisting. After being in the war for only a few months he went absent without leave on the 21st of December 1916 and some of his pay was taken away as punishment. A few months later on March 15th 1917 he was taken on strength in the 4th Pioneer Battalion. A year and three months later he was wounded in action in France on the 18th of September 1918 and he spent the rest of the war in hospital. 

Around eight months later he was discharged from the military on the 29th June 1919 and returned home. Not much is known about what he did after the war. He died of natural causes in Brisbane on the 26th December 1940 when he was 59 years old. His body is buried in the Mount Thompson Memorial Gardens in Queensland.

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Biography contributed by Alex McKinnon

Clara McKinnon nee Wegner 

They had a son born William Alex McKinnon 1914