Alexander Muir

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Alexander MuirCredit:  Milton Adamson / Library and Archives Canada / PA-030217
Alexander Muir
Credit: Milton Adamson / Library and Archives Canada / PA-030217

Alexander Muir (5 April 1830 near Lanark26 June 1906) was a songwriter, poet and school headmaster. A childhood immigrant to Canada from his native Scotland, he grew up in the former township of Scarborough, Ontario, and studied at Queen's College, where he graduated in 1851. He taught in the Greater Toronto Area in such places as Scarborough, as well as in Newmarket, Beaverton, and in then suburban areas as Parkdale and Leslieville, where he lived on Laing Avenue. Muir's claim to fame was the song The Maple Leaf Forever, composed in 1867 to celebrate the Confederation of Canada. He was later (1888-1901) principal of Toronto's Gladstone Avenue Public School (renamed after his death in his honour).

Muir was a noted Canadian Orangeman. He also served with the Queen's Own Rifles, and fought with them at the Battle of Ridgeway. He wrote The Maple Leaf Forever while serving with the regiment.

A formal garden and park just south of Yonge Street and Lawrence Avenue in Toronto is named in his honour,

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