His father was elected Member of Parliament for Newport, Shropshire, in 1908, and was created a Baronet by David Lloyd George in 1917 for organising Sugar beet production during the First World War.

In that year, his son Alexander, who had been educated at Eton, passed through the Royal Military College at Sandhurst as a wartime cadet and was commissioned into the newly raised Welsh Guards on 21 December.

[6][7][8][9][10] In his year with the 1st Battalion of the Welsh Guards on the Western Front, Stanier displayed aptitude for the mobile warfare that followed the crumbling of the German defences.

He rallied his platoon under heavy fire, and after personally reconnoiting (sic) the ground in front, led his men forward 200 yards to a good fir[ing] position.

This was a hazardous operation and could easily have led to the destruction or capture of the force, but Stanier made his dispositions soundly, and although badly mauled his battalion was successfully evacuated by the Royal Navy while destroyers engaged German tanks on the quay.

The coast here is low-lying and sandy, but with soft patches of clay on the foreshore, and soggy grassland inland, both of which would cause heavy vehicles to become bogged down.

Two control vessels were hit during the run-in, which meant that the planned artillery shoot on le Hamel did not happen, and an attack by Royal Air Force (RAF) Typhoons had failed to suppress its garrison.

On their left the 1st Battalion, Dorset Regiment had better luck, and with the help of flail tanks of the Westminster Dragoons began to clear beach exits and move inland.

On 14 June, the brigade captured la Senaudière during Operation Perch, and after weeks of fighting in the bocage it headed the division's attack on Caumont on 30 July during the break-out from the Normandy beachhead.

After the failure of Market Garden, the 50th Division was left to defend the captured area beyond the River Waal against determined German counter-attacks in early October 1944.

[6][28] Stanier was awarded a number of foreign decorations for his wartime service, including the Belgian Order of Leopold II and Croix de Guerre (with palms), and the US Silver Star.

[6][7][8][29] Although Peplow Hall had been sold in the 1920s, Stanier returned in retirement to the family tradition of farming and local politics in Shropshire.

[6] On 21 July 1927 Stanier married Dorothy Gladys, daughter of Brigadier-General Douglas Miller of Shotover Park, Wheatley, Oxfordshire.