He came to Bombay when he was sixteen and found employment with an Armenian merchant there, trading with China and Manila.
[3] Seth Apcar (born Mumbai 12 May 1819 died London March 1885) was the first Armenian Sheriff of Kolkata.
He was awarded the Order of the Lion and the Sun by the Shah of Iran, which was presented to him by the Governor-General of India.
The Apcar Line ran a fleet of vessels from Kolkata carrying Chinese coolies and cargo, largely to and from Singapore, Hong Kong and Amoy (Xiamen), with connections to Japan.
Apcar & Co purchased an extensive stretch of land and started a mine at Lachipur (6.4 km from Asansol).
Seeing the rapid development of the coalfields, European firms purchased large areas from Apcar & Co on a royalty basis and started to mine the coal.
On 27 February 1912 Apcar & Co, ships, workshops and mines, were sold to the British India Steam Navigation Company for Rs 800,000 and absorbed by BISN.
His stud was "summered" at Bangalore, where he spent a good part of the hot weather season.
[6] Sir Alexander took a prominent part in the work of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce, of which he was vice-president in 1903 and president from 1904 to 1907.
He was created a CSI in 1903, and was advanced to knighthood of the Order on the occasion of the Coronation Durbar at Delhi later that year.
The Times Obituary stated that the death of Sir Alexander, "removes one of the best known and most popular of the merchant princes of Calcutta.