He left school at the age of 10 to work in a coal mine, but became an apprentice bricklayer.
[4] McAlpine built up the large building and civil engineering firm that bears his name.
They had five sons: Robert (1868–1934), William Hepburn (1871–1950), Thomas Malcolm (1877–1967), Alfred David (1881–1944) and Granville (1882–1928) and two daughters, Agnes and Ethel.
His daughter Agnes became the second wife of Louis Marie Charles Fradin de Belabre in 1905.
McAlpine died while at sea onboard MV Warwick Castle of a cerebral haemorrhage.