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depot battalion, but was shortly selected to raise the 2nd battalion 
of bis old regiment, the 1 4th : this he so quickly did, and so rapidly 
brought them into an effective state, that his battalion was the first 
of the new 2nd battalions that proceeded on service in the field ; this 
was to New Zealand, to engage in the Maori war. Here he com- 
manded for some time in the province of Taranaki, and under Sir 
Duncan Cameron the important outposts at Waikato. 
He was then promoted to major-general in 1868, lieut. -general in 
1877, and general in 1881. He received during his service seven 
war medals, but the reception only of the C.B. (3rd Class of the 
Order of the Bath) will be considered but an inadequate acknow- 
ledgment of long and arduous service. 
Sir James Alexander was the author of various works of travel 
and of a biographical and military character, such as his Life of the 
Duke of Wellington , Canada as it is, &c., Passages in the Life of 
a Soldier, and others relating to the various countries with which he 
was personally acquainted, as well as the contributor of numerous 
articles in periodicals on the military, scientific, and social topics of 
the day. 
The deep interest he took in all questions relating to the interests 
and improvements of the army, especially as regarded its equip- 
ments, and his untiring exertions in promoting these objects to the 
utmost of his power, are well known. He was among the foremost 
and most strenuous supporters of those who called public attention 
to the long-neglected justice of granting medals for the Peninsular 
services of the army, hitherto unrecognised by distinctive decora- 
tions. This movement was eventually carried to a successful result, 
through the influence and advocacy of the Duke of Kichmoncl in 
the House of Lords, and with the military authorities, was much 
indebted to the indefatigable exertions of Sir James Alexander. 
Mainly also to his exertions may be truly attributed the ultimate 
erection of the Egyptian obelisk (called Cleopatra’s Needle) in its 
present site on the Thames Embankment. This obelisk, presented 
by Egypt to England in recognition of the services of the British 
army in Egypt under Abercrombie, owing to untoward circumstances 
which prevented its shipment to England, for which arrangements 
had been made at the expense of the army, was allowed from that 
up to the present to lie neglected on the shore of Alexandria 
