Hon.
Simon Fraser (1888-1914)
Gordon
Highlanders
KILLED
IN ACTION 29 OCTOBER 1914
A WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN
The
photograph of Simon, above, is from Charterhouse School.
[1]
The only surviving photograph of Simon otherwise is as a young boy. [2]
Alas, no photograph survives of Simon in the Gordon Highlanders
Museum Collection.
Hon.
Simon Fraser, 2nd Lieutenant 3rd Battalion (attached to 2nd
Battalion) Gordon Highlanders was killed
in action on 29 October 1914. [3]
He is remembered on Panel 38 Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial. Son of 18th Baron Saltoun and Lady Saltoun,
of Philorth, Fraserburgh, Aberdeen.
Several of the sons of the Saltouns
served in the Great War. [4]
Simon
was born on 7 September 1888, educated at Winton House, Winchester
(prep school) and Charterhouse
School, Godalming. He
took up a business career in the City of London with Greenwell & Co, and in
1912 became a member of the Stock Exchange. He was gazetted a 2nd Lieut. 3rd
Gordon Highlanders 7
September 1914. Served with
the Expeditionary Force in France
and Flanders. Later attached to the 2nd
Battalion of the Gordons.
Simon had everything to live for, handsome, sporty, a talented young man, like so many that were killed in battle in the Great War. A what might have been, had he been spared. In the last year of his life he was often seen in the company of Hon. Gwyneth Ericka Morgan, ( 1895-1924), a childhood and family friend, they enjoyed each other's company at dances, balls and weekend jaunts to house parties.
Lieut.
Col. H P Uniacke, commanding the 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders,
wrote on 3 November 1914:
“It is with the deepest regret that I write to tell you that poor Simon was
killed .... when fighting a difficult rear guard action. Willie [5]
(Simon’s younger brother) buried him in the morning of the 29 October in the
grounds of an old chateau.”
A fellow officer, 2nd Lieut. Peter
Duguid, adds: “Simon and I were with our platoons in a trench on the left of
the Gordons’ position. The Germans came up on our left and drove back the
troops there, and we had to take up new positions as we were enfiladed by a
machine gun. In doing this I got a bullet through the flesh of my right arm.
When we had time, Simon put on a field dressing for me, and also attended to
two of his own men who were hit. We had to fall back to the village of Zandvoorde,
where we helped to organise the men. About noon Simon very gallantly carried a box of ammunition to a
machine gun over an open field under fire. I rejoined him later and we took cover in a
ditch during some very heavy shelling about 2pm. He had offered me a drink of water and had changed
his position to further down the ditch when a shell burst near him and though I
ran to him at once there was nothing I could do. I am sure he did not
suffer. I shall always think of his
cheerfulness and fortitude whatever had to be done, He had an extraordinary
aptitude for the work, and all his men liked him.” [6]
Ypres -Menin Gate Memorial
EXTRACTED FROM "THE MORGANS OF TREDEGAR HOUSE GREAT WAR ROLL OF HONOUR": BY WILLIAM CROSS, FSA SCOT
CONTACT THE AUTHOR FOR FURTHER DETAILS
williecross@aol.com
[1] Provided by Mrs A C Wheeler of Charterhouse School in 2008.
[2]
Enquiries were made in 2008 to establish whether a photograph of Simon Fraser
survived in his family. His niece [ the late] Lady Saltoun was approached by
e-mail. This is her reply of 6 January 2008. “Dear Mr. Cross
I should love to help you but I think you know more than I do about
Uncle Simon's life. The only photos of him extant in the family are
photos of all four brothers aged from c.9 down to 5, playing at Philorth,
which are in the family album, and I am not quite sure which is Simon and
which is my father! They were very close in age. The family album is at Cairnbulg Castle,
Fraserburgh, AB43 8TN, which now belongs to my
eldest daughter, the Hon. Mrs. Nicolson. I don't for a moment
suppose that a possible photo of him as a small boy is quite what you had in
mind! In the unlikely event that it is, I am sure my
daughter would let you send someone to photocopy the photos, in that case
you should write to her direct, at the address I have given you. Yours sincerely,
Saltoun”
[3] Simon Fraser was
killed on 28 October 1914
and buried by his brother Hon. William Fraser (serving also in the Gordon
Highlanders, 6th Battalion) on 29 October 1914.
[4] Lord Saltoun’s eldest son,
Alexander, The Master of Saltoun (1886-1979) (from 1933 20th Lord
Saltoun) was also a Lieutenant in the
Gordon Highlanders and was taken prisoner after the Battle
of Mons. The
2nd son, the Hon. George Fraser (1887-1970)
(later a Rear Admiral) was a
Lieutenant in the Royal Navy in the
Great War. The 4th Son,
William Fraser (1890-1964), also in the Gordons.
[5] William Fraser ( 1890-1964). A
British army officer in both world wars. Reached the rank of Brigadier.
[6] Extracted from the book “ Menin Gate South: In Memory and In Mourning”
By Paul Chapman, Pen and Sword (2016).
