Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Eric Brockman Fraser was born on 25 February 1880 at St Leonards, Dunedin, the third son of Frederick John and Helen Fraser. His birth was registered as Frederick Brockman Fraser but he seems to have gone through life as Eric. He started at St Leonard’s Dunedin School a month after his fifth birthday. Then followed a stint at Mornington School and the tuition of a goveness before he went to George Street Dunedin School. In 1894 both Eric and his younger brother, Roy, were admitted to Rees Valley School at the head of Lake Wakatipu, Mrs Fraser being named as their parent/guardian. At the Queenstown Athletic Club annual sports on New Year’s Day 1897, Eric Fraser finished second in the Youths Handicap Race (under 16 years) 100 yards. Madge, too, their youngest sister (aka Emily Madge), was admitted to Rees Valley School in 1894 and again in 1896. By the end of 1896 she was at the Queenstown Convent School, where she received a prize for politeness. An older brother, Tatton Gardiner Fraser, had been admitted to Ravensbourne School in May 1878 from St Leonards, where he had been for four years, and then he went to Waikouaiti School in August 1878. Two sisters, Charlotte (born in 1873) and Fanny (born in 1876), transferred to St Leonard’s School Dunedin from Orari, South Canterbury in January 1885, moving to Mornington School in August of that year. Mrs Fraser was again the parent/guardian in the admission record. Mrs F. J. Fraser may have conducted a private school at Hawksbury (near Wailouaiti) in 1873.

Several of Eric’s siblings predeceased him. It appears that Robert Salton and Isabel Mary may have died in infancy. Lucy Brockman (first-born?) died on 25 August 1866 at Waikouaiti, aged 3 years, and was buried in St John’s Anglican Cemetery at Waikouaiti. Fanny Honeywood (fourth daughter), who had at some time been resident in the Wakatipu area, died on 20 May 1904 at Dunedin, aged 27 years. Helen May (eldest daughter) died on 11 June 1911 at Wanganui, aged 45 years, and was buried at Wanganui. She was a nurse and had resided for some considerable time at Kinloch near Glenorchy and at Lake Te Anau, with her mother.

By 1905, Eric was a dentist practising at Lawrence. By 1908 he had moved to Oamaru and by 1911 to Waimate, where he lived for the remainder of his days. At Waimate he was the Honorary Secretary of the Waimate Cricket Club in 1911. Residing at the Royal Hotel, Waimate, single and Roman Catholic, when he enlisted on 8 January 1916, he named his sister as next-of-kin – Miss Charlotte Fraser, Otago Boys’ High School, Dunedin. He belonged to the Waitaki Territorials. Second Lieutenant E. B. Fraser embarked with the 14th Reinforcements, departing from Wellington on 26 June 1916. While overseas he was granted a commission. He was promoted to captain on 15 May 1918 and transferred to the Dental Corps on 19 September 1918. “A cable message has been received that Captain Eric Brockman Fraser was invalided to England on October 31, and is at present in Codford, progressing satisfactorily. Captain Fraser has seen much active service, having left with the 14th Reinforcements and been constantly in the fighting line up to the date when he had to be removed to the Hospital.” (Waimate Daily Advertiser. 30 Nov 1918)

Captain E. B. Fraser, 23135, returned to New Zealand by the “Giessen” which was due at Wellington on 16 August 1919. Discharged on 25 September 1919, he intended living at Waimate, South Canterbury. For his service in Western Europe, he was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. The name of E. B. Fraser appeared regularly on the Waimate Daily Advertiser Roll of Honour under the sub-title of Answered the Call.

Just before his return to New Zealand, Eric Brockman Fraser married Gladys Vivienne Mallam – in 1991 at Lambeth. Eric served in the home Guard in World War II. In early January 1929, Eric’s motor car was struck by the express from Christchurch at a level crossing in Dunedin. Although the car was “smashed practically beyond repair”, neither Mr Fraser nor his wife was seriously injured. Eric died on 12 November 1961 at Christchurch, aged 81 years. He was buried in the Waimate Lawn Cemetery with Gladys who had died in 1957 at Waimate. They were survived by two daughters and two sons. In June 2000, their elder son sought details of his father’s war record from the Defence Department. He had been impressed by the detail provided to family members about his uncle, Roderick Fraser, in 1981. His mother, who had leased hotels at Glenorchy, Queenstown and Te Anau since the 1890s, died in March 1915 at Invercargill where she was buried. It is not known when and where his father died but he had predeceased his mother, perhaps by many years, and his daughter Fanny who died in May 1904. His younger brother, Roderick (Roy) Fraser served in the South African War and in World War One, where he was killed in action in1917 in Palestine. His oldest brother, Tatton Gardener Fraser had married and died in 1933 at Waikanae, without issue. His sister, Sophia Charlotte Fraser, known as Charlotte or Lottie, was the next-of-kin for both Eric and Roderick. She died in November 1937 at Dunedin. His youngest sister, Emily Madge Fraser, known as Madge, married Alexander Gray Fraser in 1910. They had five children, the oldest and youngest dying in infancy. Madge died in 1947 and Alexander in 1974, both buried at Okaiawa, Taranaki.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [05 July 2022]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [07 July 2022]; School Admission records (Dunedin Branch NZSG) [10 July 2022]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [10 & 11 July 2022]; Waimate Lawn Cemetery headstone transcription (South Canterbury Branch NZSG records) [10 July 2022]; Free BDM [10 July 2022]; Lake Wakatipu Mail, 8 January 1897, 27 May 1904, 20 June 1911, 16 March 1915, Evening Star, 20 May 1904, Otago Witness, 25 May 1904, 21 June 1911, Otago Daily Times, 6 June 1904, 19 June 1911, 13 March 1915, 29 November 1937, Southland Times, 12 & 13 March 1915, Waimate Daily Advertiser, 30 May 1918, 30 November 1918, 4 January 1929, NZ Times, 23 July 1919, Press, 11 September 1957 (Papers Past) [18 September 2019; 09 & 11 July 2022]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, Teresa Scott, South Canterbury Genealogy Society

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.