I visited Lochgelly Cemetery on a rainy June afternoon. Situated between the B981 and the railway line, the cemetery is outside the town amid farmland. It is the final resting place of Alexander Laird.
Alexander passed away at 25 David Street, Lochgelly, on December 19th, 1918, at the age of twenty-six, due to heart failure caused by influenza. At a time when families were preparing to celebrate the first war-free Festive Season in five years, the Spanish flu pandemic continued to inflict suffering and grief on numerous households, including the Lairds of Lochgelly. The headstone at the family grave, where his remains rest, has been removed from its base due to instability but is otherwise in good condition. The CWGC has ensured that the lettering on the headstone is clear.
Alexander was born on October 29, 1892, at Landale Road, Lochgelly, to John, a coal miner, and Susan (nee Mack). He was their third child and second son. In 1901, the Laird family lived at 13 David Street, Lochgelly. At the age of eight, Alexander was attending school. The family grew with the birth of their daughter, Susan Jr., two years after Alexander. Unfortunately, John passed away from cancer in October of the following year at the age of fifty-six, leaving Susan to raise the children. Ten years later, the family still lived at 13 David Street. At the age of eighteen, Alexander had left school and was employed in the local coal mines, just like John. During the war, he served as a driver in the Army Service Corps. He was unmarried at the time of his death and had no children. His brother Robert was present.
He was buried with John, his sisters Elizabeth and Mary, who had both died in infancy before he was born and his maternal half-brother James Russell. Susan joined them in September 1925 after she died of cancer aged sixty-eight.
Sources: Ancestry, ScotlandsPeople
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