In Memory Of

DARBY, ALEXANDER WHYTE

Service Details
Age:
 59
Date of Birth:
 1883-09-05
Service No:
 EC/715
Rank:
 Major
Regiment:
 Indian General Service Corps
Date of Death:
 1943-03-25
Cause of Death:
 Died in accident, at Shillong, Bengal
Commemoration
Grave Reference:
 3.C.9.
Cemetery:
 GAUHATI WAR CEMETERY
Country:
 India
Additional Information
Decorations:
 Officer of the Order of the British Empire
Son of George Matthew Newton Darby and Alice Mary Whyte Darby; husband of Margaret Binnie Ralston Darby, of Vereeniging, Transvaal, South Africa. Born India. In 1901, the family (minus his father) were living in Dollar, Clackmannanshire, Scotland and he was still studying. He followed his father's profession as a mining engineer and was also in the local volunteer forces. In 1908, having previously been in the Cameronians (2nd Volunteer Battalion), he transferred into 6th Battalion Scottish Rifles. The following month, in Bengal, India, he married Margaret Binnie Ralston, being then described as Colliery Manager at Sompur, Bengal, and the following year their son, George Douglas was born in Bengal, followed by a second son Thomas Ralston in Bothwell, Lanarkshire in 1910. By 1919, he was back, briefly in Scotland, living between 22A Lauriston Place, and 104 Raeburn Place for a few years. He subsequently was asked to assist the Afghan Government in his capacity as a mining engineer, so he was off travelling again.