Major Alexander James John MacDonald became an Ensign to the 95th (Derbyshire) Regiment of Foot on the 23rd of April 1847. He steadily rose through the ranks being made a Lieutenant (on the 11th of November 1852), an Adjutant (on the 21st of September 1854), Captain (on the 29th of December 1854), and made Brevet Major on the 26th of December 1856.  

Alexander served with the 95th during the Crimean War (1854-55). He was wounded at Alma whilst serving with the Light Company, and, was also hit by a musket ball that lodged in the Lion ornament of his cross belt. He was also present at the repulse of the sortie on the 26th of October 1854.  

Alexander was further injured at the Battle of Inkerman on the 5th of November 1854, receiving 20 wounds, 18 being bayonet wounds inflicted by Russians who attacked him whilst he was lying on the ground under a bush. He later had a walking stick made out of some of the wood of the bush and sent it to a jeweller to be mounted. The Jeweller mounted it in gold and didn’t accept payment. 

It was for the bravery Alexander showed during the Battle of Inkerman for which he received the Sardinian Medal, a gallantry medal awarded by King Victor Emanuel II (of Sardinia) for services in the Crimean War. In the record of Alexander being put forward for the medal, the services section was as follows: ‘95th Regiment… 316 Brevet Major Alexander James John MacDonald. Ordered Private James Murphy, who had volunteered to protect him, when wounded, to retire and leave him, when overpowered by numbers of the Enemy, by whom he was afterwards wounded in eighteen different parts of the body, on the 5th of November 1854.’ 

He was placed on Half Pay on the 26th of November 1858. Alexander became Fort Adjutant in Edinburgh on the 31st of August 1861 until 5th of February 1865. He would go on to become Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel on the 9th of April 1868. Alexander retired on the 1st of July 1881 as an Honorary Colonel. 

Alexander died on the 7th of December 1889 at Teddington, Middlesex.