Jean Longstaff has submitted the following:-
Born on 25th March 1880 Alexander was the middle of three sons born to Scottish chemical factory cooper Angus Christian and his wife Anne, Alex also had five sisters, Elizabeth, Roberta, Mary, Catherine and Janet. Brought up in Hebburn, living firstly in Rose Street and then Charles Street, Alex was educated at Hebburn New Town School, and by 1901 he was an apprentice patternmaker and still living at home in Glen Street with his parents, two older sisters and his younger brother Gordon. He joined the 138th Company, 30th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry and fought in the South African War for a year and on his return to England he was for three years a member of the 1st Durham RE (Volunteers) based at Jarrow.
In October 1907 Alex sailed from Liverpool to Montreal on board the SS Victorian making for Argyle, Manitoba and a job as a patternmaker. October 1914 saw him enlisting the Canadian Expeditionary Force in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan naming his father in Hebburn as his next of kin and mentioning his previous military experiences in England and South Africa, and two months later in Rockwood, Manitoba he married Irish girl Emily Smythe. Posted to England at the end of May 1915 Private 73164 of C Company, 28th Battalion sailed with the second draft of men from Montreal to Liverpool on board the SS Northland and on arrival at the camp at Otterpool near Folkestone, Kent he was promoted to Lance Corporal.
Arriving in Boulogne on 18th September 1915 the reinforcements would have joined their battalion in time to relief the 15th at Kemmel, in Flanders, an area they stayed in until the New Year. April 1916 saw the battalion fighting around Zevecote and it was here on the 13th April that Lance Corporal 73164 received multiple wounds to head, arms and legs. Evacuated to the St. John Ambulance Hospital at Etaples, where both of his legs were amputated, Alex Christian died from his wounds on 17th April, and was buried in Etaples Military Cemetery.
Alexander Sutherland Christian is remembered in Hebburn on H93.43
He is also remembered in Canada on the Virtual War Memorial and in the Canadian Book of Remembrance.
Canadian Book of Remembrance
Canadian Virtual War Memorial
The CWGC entry for Lance Corporal Christian
