Roll of Honour

Private

Allan Cameron MacLean

Allan Cameron MacLean was born on the 23rd August 1893 in Aguilas, Murcia, Spain. He was the eldest son of Norman MacLean and Jessie MacLean (nee Stephens). Allan lived with his grandparents, Mr W. A. Stephens the late Mrs Stephens in Birkenhead, near Liverpool, England. He attended the Birkenhead Institute for six years, before going on to the High School of Glasgow, where he was a member of the Cadet Corps. Later, he spent three years with the University of Glasgow OTC without being a student at the University, and who nevertheless wrote to offer him a commission at the outbreak of war.

Memorial chapel at the University of Glasgow
The Memorial Chapel at the University of Glasgow

However, in the meantime, Allan had gone to Australia to study farming, and without waiting for news from the University OTC, he immediately joined the Sydney Light Infantry and was sent to Egypt with the first Australian contingent. He is supposed to have reached the Dardanelles around May 1915, but no further news was received of him until the official notice of his death reached his parents on 24th June 1915.

Private Allan Cameron MacLean had been killed on the day of the landing of his Division at Gallipoli on the 25th April 1915. He was 21 years of age. He is memorialised on Panel 15 in the Lone Pine Cemetery, Anzac, Gallipoli, Canakkale, Turkey. He is also commemorated on the High School of Glasgow war memorial (see the Scottish War Memorials Project, in the west end of Glasgow.

Comments and Citations

Biography: Information contributed by Alun L. Hughes, former pupil of the Birkenhead Institute, and from an article from the Birkenhead News, 1915.

Photograph: Photograph courtesy of the Birkenhead News,