Birth at Lesmahagow of Composer Alexander Muir, Creator of Maple Leaf Forever.

Alexander Muir (5 April 1830 – 26 June 1906) was a Canadian songwriter, poet, soldier, and school headmaster.[1] He was the composer of The Maple Leaf Forever, which he wrote in October 1867 to celebrate the Confederation of Canada.

In 1833 Muir immigrated to Toronto, Ontario, from Lesmahagow, Scotland, where he grew up and he was educated by his father. Muir later studied at Queen’s College, where he graduated in 1851

Muir was said to have been inspired to write this song by a large maple tree which stood on his street in front of Maple Cottage, a house at Memory Lane and Laing Street in Toronto. The song became quite popular in English Canada and for many years served as an unofficial national anthem.

The “Maple Leaf Forever” is a Canadian patriotic song written by Alexander Muir (1830–1906) in 1867, the year of Canada’s Confederation.[1] He wrote the work after serving with the Queen’s Own Rifles of Toronto in the Battle of Ridgeway against the Fenians in 1866