Brigadier William Fraser, (5 July 1890 – 11 November 1964) was a younger son of Alexander Fraser, 19th Lord Saltoun and served as a British Army officer in both world wars.
Early life
William Fraser was born on 5 July 1890, the youngest of four sons of Alexander Fraser, 19th Lord Saltoun of Abernethy, a Scottish peerage created in 1445. As the son of a peer, William took the courtesy style 'The Honourable'. He was educated at Charterhouse School and at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
First World War
Fraser was commissioned into the Gordon Highlanders as a second lieutenant in 1910 and served with the 2nd Battalion in India and Egypt. When the First World War broke out, the battalion sailed for England, and landed at Zeebrugge in Belgium on 7 October 1914, with Fraser as Battalion Machine Gun Officer. It was soon in action at the First Battle of Ypres. During particularly heavy fighting in front of Gheluvelt on 28–29 October, Fraser was wounded. His elder brother, the Hon Simon Fraser, who had only been commissioned on 1 August from the Special Reserve (3rd Bn) Gordon Highlanders, was killed in the same action.
After recovering from his wound, William Fraser was promoted to captain in March 1915 and served as a staff captain at 27th Infantry Brigade in 9th (Scottish) Division from November 1915 to April 1916, when he became brigade major of 151st (Durham Light Infantry) Brigade in the 50th (Northumbrian) Division.
In May 1917 Fraser was appointed acting lieutenant-colonel to command 1/6th Gordon Highlanders, a Territorial Force battalion serving in the 51st (Highland) Division. The battalion saw heavy fighting during the Third Ypres offensive that summer, and at Cambrai in the autumn. In February 1918, Fraser was sent to command a Corps School of Instruction.
Between the wars
By the end of the war Fraser was a temporary lieutenant-colonel, with a Distinguished Service Order, a Military Cross, and three Mentions in Despatches, on 1 January 1918, but on the return of peace he reverted to the substantive rank of captain, serving on the staff at Sandhurst. He was promoted to brevet major in December 1919. In the 1920s he served as adjutant of his battalion, and as brigade major in Eastern Command. In 1929 he transferred to the Grenadier Guards. From 1931 to 1935 he was British military attaché at Brussels and The Hague. He finally attained the substantive rank of lieutenant-colonel on 1 July 1937 (20 years after he had first held it), and was immediately promoted to brevet colonel. He commanded the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards for a year, until he was sent to Paris as British military attaché, where he was serving when the Second World War broke out in September 1939.
Second World War
In early January 1940 he took command of the 27th Infantry Brigade, part of the 9th (Highland) Infantry Division, a second-line Territorial Army (TA) formation. He was not there for long, however, as in mid-February Fraser was appointed to command the newly created 24th Infantry Brigade (Guards), organising for the proposed intervention in Norway. Eventually, after much changing of plans, the brigade set out in early April as the first echelon of 'Avonforce', under Major General Pierse Joseph Mackesy, to recapture the port of Narvik from the German invaders. Mackesy and two companies of Scots Guards from Fraser's brigade arrived on 14 April, the day after the conclusion of the Battles of Narvik that had destroyed German naval forces in the area. The whole brigade was concentrated at Harstad, 35 miles from Narvik, by 16 April. Operations were made difficult by fresh snow, but Avonforce began working forwards. On 30 April, while making a personal reconnaissance towards Ankenes, Fraser was slightly wounded and had to hand command over to his senior battalion commander.