48480: Murdo Macdonald

Murchadh Alastair Aonghais

Murdo (born 1896) was a son of Alexander Macdonald and Margaret Kennedy, 23 Cromore.

On October 22, 1912, he enrolled in the Royal Naval Reserve under Service Number A4562. His record indicates that he was 5 ft 8 in tall with blue eyes, a fresh complexion, a scar on the bridge of his nose and a tattoo of a woman on his right forearm. Murdo was a fisherman on Stornoway registered fishing boats including the Hilda. He was Mobilised on August 2, 1914 and served in the Royal Navy in the First World War. Later that year Murdo was transferred to the Royal Naval Division, Hawke Battalion, an infantry unit for servicemen in the Royal Naval Reserve not required for service at sea. He was taken as a Prisoner of War in Groningen Lewismen interned in the Netherlands.  His name is mentioned in  Loyal Lewis: Roll of Honour 1914-1918. 

After the War Murdo worked as a Rigger at Fairfields Shipyard in Govan.

At Govan, in 1919, he married Margaret Ann Maclennan, 18 Marvig. Murdo and Margaret Ann settled 73 Elderpark Street, Govan. In 1922 Murdo joined the Merchant Navy and travelled to Montreal on the SS Pretorian and to Australia on the SS Ayrshire.  The couple moved to 58 Greenfield Street, Govan in 1922.

Murdo and Margaret settled at 23 Cromore and they had three children.