Alexander William Maclean ¹

  General Notes:

Alexander was a cheerful man, generous and with a wry sense of humour. He was well liked and respected. Very much a family man who took delight in visiting his family and relations. He loved driving and had many vehicles including a lovely Harley Davison. As a youth he was in the Boys Brigade in Edinburgh and became holder of the Kings Badge. He worked in the Finance dept of Edinburgh Hospitals. He rose to become a Senior Administrator. He always amazed me by adding up a long column of numbers faster than I could read them. I think he went grey quite young and so always appeared the same age to me throughout my life, a sort of Father Christmas agelessness. I remember the holidays and their visits to us. My favourite memory was when he gave me 2 shillings to go and get some ice cream at the chocolate box in Edinburgh. It was then owned by Italians who made the most incredible ice cream. I promply went in and got 2 shillings worth of sliders. In those days that was an awful lot of ice cream. I managed to get most of it back to their home, it was a bit runny mind you. My grandfather thought this was extremely funny and we enjoyed polishing it all off. He never sent me for ice cream again!

He was proud of his roots and of being a Maclean. Although dubious as to how far I would get, he became the inspiration for me to start my research.

Alexander married Sarah Fairbairn Purves, daughter of John Hume Purves and Agnes Fairbairn. (Sarah Fairbairn Purves was born on 16 Mar 1903 in Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland, United Kingdom and died on 20 Aug 1986 in William Harvey Hospital, Ashford, Kent.)

  Noted events in their marriage were:

• Single, 23 Dec 1924, St Giles, Edinburgh.