MacRae, Alfred Reginald
Rank: Assistant Commissioner of Police
Regiment: Indian Police Service
Biography: Son of Donald MacRae, stationmaster ; born Inverness, 26 January 1888. Educated at Aberdeen Grammar School. On leaving the University where he studied from 1905-08, he took the highest place in the examination for the Indian Police Service. Most of his time in India was spent in Delhi, where he had the chance of doing good service at the time of the Durbar ; while later he became an officer of the new Delhi Province. There he acted until April 1915, gaining a reputation among his superiors as one of the most promising officers of the Punjab Police. In April 1915 began his more definite war-service. He was sent to Mesopotamia as Assistant Commissioner of Police under the Foreign and Political Department of the Government of India. There he had the difficult and important duty of organizing a new police force, and this was a piece of work which made demands upon all the skill in dealing with men, which had always characterized him. On 1 July 1916 he died of cholera near Nasiriyeh. He was one of the many who gave their lives for their country whose name appeared in no casualty list. Such service as his, given with simplicity, modesty and devotion, lays the foundation of order and peace in restless and unsettled territory ; and in him was lost not only a man of goodness and charm, but a loyal, efficient and valued officer of the Force he had served so well.
Date of Death: 01 July 1916
Burial Details: Buried at Basra War Memorial Cemetery, Plot 4, Row R., Grave 23.
Publication: Roll of Service, edited by Mabel Desborough Allardyce. Published 1921.
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