Hon. Simon Fraser (1888-1914)
KILLED IN ACTION TODAY 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 him 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).
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