James Edward Alexander

Major-General Sir James Edward Alexander KStJ CB FRSE FRGS (16 October 1803 – 2 April 1885) was a Scottish soldier, traveller and author.

Alexander was the driving force behind the placement of Cleopatra's Needle on the Thames Embankment.

Born in Stirling, he was the eldest son of Edward Alexander of Powis, Clackmannanshire, and his second wife Catherine Glas, daughter of John Glas. He received his training in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

In 1837 he married Eveline Marie Mitchell.

He died in Ryde on the Isle of Wight but is buried in Old Logie Churchyard just east of his home town of Stirling.

In 1820, he joined the British East India Company's army, transferring into the British Army in 1825. As aide-de-camp to the British envoy to Persia, he witnessed fighting during the war between Persia and Russia in 1826 and in 1829 was present in the Balkans during the Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829. From 1832 to 1834, he witnessed the War of the Two Brothers in Portugal, and in 1835 he took part in the 6th Cape Frontier War in South Africa as aide-de-camp and private secretary to Sir Benjamin d'Urban. He was the son-in-law of Charles Collier Michell, having married in Cape Town on 25 October 1837 his daughter Eveline Marie, born 16 April 1821.