Marr, Alexander

28654 Driver Alexander Marr - 1st Australian Division Ammunition Column

Alexander Marr was born on the 26th June 1891 in Aberdeen Scotland.

He was educated in Scotland and after leaving school he took up work with horses. He then joined the Royal Engineers, serving with them for four years before resigning to come to Australia.

On the 4th January 1913 he arrived in Western Australia.

On arrival in WA he became involved in the local community and played soccer for the Fremantle Rovers and Fremantle Caledonians. He had played football while in Scotland and this passion continued in WA.

By all accounts he was a very good goalkeeper. The Fremantle Caledonian team is pictured below with Alex back row centre

In 1915 in Fremantle he married Mabel Troup and they lived at 28 Livingstone Street Beaconsfield. He was employed locally as a Horse Driver.

On the 6th October 1915 he enlisted into the AIF. He was passed as fit by the medical examiner who recorded his physical attributes as;

Height - 5 feet 8 inches tall;

Weight - 169lbs;

Chest Measurement - 37-41 inches;

Complexion - Fair;

Eyes - Blue;

Hair - Auburn.

After his successful enlistment, Alex was sent to Blackboy Hill Camp where he had a month in No.36 Training Depot. On the 23rd December he was then posted to the reinforcements for the Australian Army Service Corps. This was no doubt due to his civilian career being a horse driver.

He spent six months with the AASC in Australia, but in June 1916 he transferred to the Artillery reinforcements. These Artillery reinforcements were sent from WA to Victoria to complete their training. The Artillery training camp was at Maribyrnong.

After a few months of training Alex was assigned to the 7th Reinforcements to the 10th Field Artillery Brigade. This group departed from Port Melbourne aboard the transport ship HMAT Ulysses on the 25th October 1916. After the long sea voyage they arrived at Plymouth England on the 28th December 1916.

After being disembarked Alex and his group were sent to the Australian Artillery Camp at Larkhill on the Salisbury Plains. He remained in the camp for the next few months and in April 1917 attended a course in farriery and qualified as a Shoeing Smith.

It appears Alex was working on the transport in England for the Artillery camp as he remained in England until the end of October 1917.

On the 3rd November 1917 Alex reached France and upon arrival was assigned to the 1st Australian Division Ammunition Column. Their job was to keep the frontline troops supplied with ammunition and supplies. Upon arriving at his unit Alex was appointed to the rank of Shoeing Smith. 

Alex served through to October 1918 without a break in his service. During this time the 1st Australian Division were in Belgium (November 1917 to March 1918), in Northern France near Hazebrouck, Strazeele, Merris and Meteren (April to July 1918) and Villers-Bretonneux, Lihons and Peronne (August to September 1918).

While the 1st Division infantry were given a break from the line after September 18th 1918, the Artillery of the 1st Division were still supporting the advance so Alex would have been busy keeping the frontline artillery supplied.

On the 20th October 1918 Alex was given a month's leave to England so he was away from his unit when the Armistice was announced. He rejoined his unit in France on the 19th November 1918 but a day later reported ill and was sent to the 20th General Hospital at Camiers. He spent a month away from his unit, only rejoining them in the 22nd December 1918.

Alex then went with his unit to Belgium where they went into an area near Charleroi which had been under German occupation for much of the war. On the 28th March 1919 Alex returned to England and was assigned to the AIF Base camp while he waited to be allotted a berth on a transport ship home.

On the 1st June 1919 Alex boarded the transport ship Somali and set sail for Western Australia, reaching Fremantle on the 8th July 1919.

Alex was discharged from the AIF on the 16th August 1919.

After returning home from the war Alex resumed his soccer career, initially for the Thistles but then returned to the Fremantle Caledonians and became very involved in Soccer in WA, representing the State on several occasions. Throughout Alex's long life he always was involved in Soccer in some form.

He was working as a Blacksmith after returning home from the Great War and was living at 4 Winifred Street Cottesloe Beach (Mosman Park). After a few years they moved to a property on the corner of Glyde and Palmerston Street Cottesloe Beach. At this stage Alex was working on the Fremantle wharves as a waterside worker.

In the 1930's, Alex and Mabel were living at 23 Palmerston Street Mosman Park and through the 1930's he was working as a crane driver for the Fremantle Harbour Trust.

Alex enlisted again for World War Two (W67086) and he served with the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the Volunteer Defence Corps. In 1943 he was transferred for service to the 37th Heavy Artillery Battery at Buckland Hill and was with this unit till September 1945.

Alexander Marr died in September 1984 aged 93. He was cremated at Karrakatta Cemetery.

Alex left a legacy for his support of Football in WA. He was inducted into the WA Soccer Hall of Fame in 1996 and the best and fairest medal of the Caledonians was named after him.