Alexander (Alec) Parnell was born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland in 1881. He apprenticed as a cabinetmaker there and emigrated to Montreal in 1904 upon completion of his apprenticeship. He boarded with a Creswick family who had arrived from England a few months earlier, and in 1905 he married the eldest Creswick daughter.

A crack shot, Parnell was active in the militia prior to the war, and mobilized for service with the 3rd Regiment Victoria Rifles on August 12, 1914. Named an Armoury Corporal, he rose to the rank of sergeant with the Royal Montreal Regiment. Honourably discharged in 1916, he went on to compete for the Canadian Rifle Team in international shooting competitions. Parnell worked for the CNR as a cabinet maker. He died in Montreal in 1967. In 2000, he was named a member of the Dominion of Canada Rifle Association Hall of Fame. His wife, Harriet, a homemaker, died in 1981.

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