Profile

FRASER, Douglas Playfair
(Service number 6/408)

Major David Grant and his subalterns pictured at Addington in September 1914 — Pictured are (from left to right): BACK ROW: Lt Francis Maurice, Lt Cliff Barclay, LKt John Hill; FRONT ROW: Lt Douglas Fraser, Major David Grant, David, Lt Raymond Lawry (South Canterbury Museum 2011/175.04)

Waimataitai School War Memorial, pictured in 2007 — (South Canterbury Museum )

Timaru Boys High School Memorial Library plaque (1914-1918), pictured in 2007 — (South Canterbury Museum )

St Mary's Church, Timaru, memorial plaque, circa 2010 — (South Canterbury Museum 2013/155.31)

Aliases
First Rank	Second Lieutenant	Last Rank	Captain

Birth

Date	14/05/1889	Place of Birth	Timaru

Enlistment Information

Date	17 August 1914	Age	25
Address at Enlistment	Selwyn St, Timaru, New Zealand
Occupation	Accountant
Previous Military Experience	Lieutentant Timaru High School Cadets; 2nd (South Canterbury) Regiment
Marital Status	Single
Next of Kin	Charlton Simon Fraser (Father) Manager, Alliance Assurance, Timaru
Religion	Church of England
Medical Information	5"10", 142 lbs, Dark Complexion, Brown eyes and dark hair

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	Headquarters, Canterbury Infantry
Date	16 October 1914
Transport	Tahiti or Athenic
Embarked From	Lyttelton, Canterbury	Destination	Suez, Egypt

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With	Canterbury Infantry Division, 2nd Battalion

Military Awards

Campaigns	Egyptian 1916-17-18; Egyptian Expeditionary Force 1916; Balkan 1915; Western Europe 1916
Service Medals
Military Awards	Mentioned in despatches

Award Circumstances and Date

Operation Somme - 20th September to 2 November 1916. This Officer has always displayed the greatest devotion to duty and an utter disregard and contempt of danger at all times. He commanded his Company since its formation with great success. He was killed gallantly leading his Company in the attack on Goose Valley and Drop Valley on the night of 20th/21st September 1916. (london Gazette, 1 June 1917, p5429, Rec No 640)

Prisoner of War Information

Date of Capture
Where Captured and by Whom
Actions Prior to Capture
PoW Serial Number
PoW Camps
Days Interned
Liberation Date

Discharge

Date		Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date	20 September 1916	Age	27
Place of Death	Somme, France
Cause	Killed in action
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery	Caterpillar Valley(New Zealand) Memorial,Caterpillar valley Cemetery, Longueval, Somme, France
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials	On Memorial wall, Timaru; Timaru Boys High School War Memorial (Library); Waimataitai School War Memorial; South Canterbury Savage Club Roll of Honour; Memorial plaque, St Mary's Church, Timaru

Biographical Notes

Douglas Fraser was the son of Charlton Simon Fraser of Selwyn Street. Timaru. Mother Mary Anne.(Minnie).Brother Geoffrey also fell. His siblings were Hansome Home (b.1881), Elmira Lucy (b.1883), Winifred (b.1884), Eric John Freeland (b.1886), Doris Mary (b.1888), Geoffrey (b.1890), Eva Beryl (b.1892) and Gordon Lovat (b.1893).

Douglas Playfair Fraser is listed in the 1910 roll book of Timaru Technical School, enrolled in 'Wool Classing'.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Cenotaph Database (Sept 2013); Archives New Zealand (December 2014); Timaru Technical School Roll book (SCRoll submission from J James, Mountainview High School, 18 March 2015)

External Links

Researched and Written by

Janette Clarke, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.

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