Old Photograph High Street Lesmahagow Scotland

Old photograph of the Thomas Brown shop on the High Street in Lesmahagow near Lanark, Scotland. Alexander Muir, born 5 April 1830, immigrated to Toronto, Ontario from Lesmahagow, in 1833, where he grew up and he was educated by his father. He later studied at Queen's College, where he graduated in 1851. He taught in the Greater Toronto Area in such places as Scarborough and Toronto, as well as in Newmarket, Beaverton, and in then suburban areas as Parkdale and Leslieville, where he lived on Laing Avenue. During the early 1870s, Alexander Muir was an elementary school teacher in Newmarket. When the cornerstone of the Christian Church in Newmarket was being laid on June 25, 1874 by the Governor General, Lord Dufferin, Muir brought his school choir to the event to sing his new composition The Maple Leaf Forever, its first public performance. He was a noted Canadian Orangeman. He also served with The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada, and fought with them at the Battle of Ridgeway. He wrote The Maple Leaf Forever while he was serving with the regiment. He died on 26 June 1906. Mount Muir in Alberta is named for him.



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