Gravestone of CSM A.W. Mathison [sic Matheson], Seaforth Regt [sic Seaforth Highlanders - Imperial Seaforths - BEF] at Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver in 1997. He died on 25 October 1945. In reviewing the Mountain View Cemetery rolls, the name is Alexander MATHESON and not MATHISON with this date of death of 25 October 1945. On rear: "MV 97". In viewing the British Army WW I Medal Index Card, 8535 CSM Alexander Matheson was in the Imperial Seaforth Highlanders before and during the Great War. He would have joined the 1st Seaforths in 1903-1904. From the card, he has been awarded the India General Service Medal, 1908 (North West Frontier 1908), the Delhi Durban Medal, 1911 (Commemorating the Coronation of King George V), the Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal (dated October 1919) as well as the 1914 "Mons" Star (he arrived in France on 12 October 1914), the BWM and the Victory Medal. The card gives a forwarding address of J.K. Matheson c/o Happyland [believed to be the PNE], Vancouver, BC Canada dated 17 June 1940. The 1st Seaforth return to India 1903 The 1st Seaforth sailed from Egypt to Bombay in February 1903 and were stationed at Nasirabad. Much of their training was carried out in the same area as that in which the 72nd had fought in 1858. In late 1905 the battalion moved to Nowshera. It spent the summer of 1907 at Ghora Dhaka in the Murree Hills. The 1st Seaforth on the Zakka Khel Expedition 1908 In February 1908 the 1st Seaforth formed part of a punitive expedition on the North West frontier against the Zakka Khel tribe. The Bazar Valley Field Force, of two brigades, in destroying the villages of the rebel tribesmen, had some particularly hard fighting. The 1st Seaforth lost their acting Commanding Officer, Major Hon. D. ForbesSempill, killed. The 1st Seaforth on the Mohmand Expedition 1908 Two months later the 1st Seaforth took part in a further expedition against the turbulent Mohmand tribe on the North West Frontier. Between 30,000-40,000 Mohmands and Afghans were threatening to cross the frontier, and so a force of three brigades was sent to oppose them. The expedition had a tough six week campaign of mountain warfare. The incursion was suppressed with some severity, and 170 fortified towers were destroyed. The 1st Seaforth in India until 1914 The 1st Seaforth remained in India until 1914. They were garrisoned in Nowshera (1905-1909), Peshawar (1909), Shahjahanpur (1909), Chaubattia and Bareilly (1910-1912), Agra (1912-14). In 1911 King George V visited Delhi for his Coronation Durbar, and on 11th December presented the 1st Seaforth with new Colours. They were the eighth Stand to be carried. On the outbreak of World War I in 1914 the 1st Seaforth left Agra, India for France with the Indian Expeditionary Force, Dehra Dun Brigade in Meerut Division on 21 September 1914 for France, landing at Marseilles on 12 October 1914. In December 1915, the Battalion moved to Mesopotamia, landing at Basra [Iraq] late in the month. The formation was by now renamed 21st Brigade, 7th Indian Division. On 4 February 1916, owing to heavy casualties, the 1st Seaforth formed the Highland Battalion with 2nd Battalion, the Black Watch but on 12 July 1916 it resumed its former title. In January 1918, the unit moved to Palestine, arriving Suez 13 January 1918.