Harold Fraser's Family Album

My father Harold Fraser (1907-76), was the youngest child of James Wren Fraser and Mary Sargeant, born in Kirkdale, Liverpool. Harold (known in the Army as "Pete") left Liverpool to join the Army in 1940 and never returned. He served in the Royal Armoured Corps (RAC) in World War II, transferring to the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) in 1946. He served in England, Singapore and Germany until 1964, when he left the Army and went with my mother to live in her home town of Ipswich, Suffolk. He died at Orford Ness, Suffolk, in Mar 1976 while on a fishing trip.

The purpose of this small web-site is to share the family pictures I've inherited myself or received from other members of my extended family. I still need information on many of the people pictured. For Fraser family photographs from the UK, see here. For Fraser family photographs from the USA, see here. For my complete family tree, see here.

Harold and Alan Fraser, Bovington, Dorset, 1946	Harold and Alan Fraser, Bovington, Dorset, 1948	Army families outing, Bovington, Dorset, 1946		Dorset beach, 1947
Marjorie, Harold and Alan Fraser, Bovington, Dorset, 1947		On holiday around 1950	On holiday around 1950	Dorset beach, 1949
Our first home, 3 Arras Road, Bovington (on the right of the centre terrace), photographed in 1985		Dorset around 1949

My Dad was an instructor at the Army Apprentices School, Beachley, Glos, from 1949-52, and we lived at 7 Mercian Way, Sedbury. I first went to school at Sedbury Infants School, and then at Tutshill C of E Primary School. All the colour photos were taken in 1964.

My father flew to Singapore in Oct 1952 on the Short Solent 3 Flying Boat "City of Sydney" belonging to Aquila Airways Limited, leaving from Southampton Water. This must have been a charter flight by the Army, because the airline normally flew to Lisbon and Madeira, and later the Canary Islands. The trip took around a week, calling at places including Gibraltar; Limassol, Cyprus; Tehran, Iran; Karachi, Pakistan; Goa, India, and Trincomalee, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). These are the only photos I have from that trip. The Goa photos show his fellow Army travellers.

Sadly, this very aircraft crashed on the Isle of Wight after taking off from Southampton Water on a flight to Las Palmas, Canary Islands, on 15 Nov 1957, with a loss of 45 lives from the 58 passengers and crew on board. We were in West Germany by that time.

My mother and I travelled to Singapore by sea on the "H.T. Lancashire", taking five weeks instead of one! We were caught in a typhoon in the Indian Ocean and had to spend about eight hours in life jackets waiting to board the lifeboats before the captain decided the worst of the storm had passed.

Singapore, 1952	Singapore, 1952	Singapore, 1952	Singapore, 1952	Singapore, 1952
Singapore, 1952		Singapore, 1952	Singapore, 1953	Raffles Hotel, Singapore, 1953
Port Dickson, Malaya, 1952		Wessex Estate, Singapore, 1953		Our flat on the Wessex Estate, Singapore, 1953
Britannia Club, Singapore, Aug 1953		Britannia Club, Singapore, Aug 1953	Singapore, 1953	Britannia Club, Singapore, Aug 1953
Tiger Balm Gardens, Singapore, 1953		Tiger Balm Gardens, Singapore, 1953	Tiger Balm Gardens, Singapore, 1953	"SS Dilwara", 1954
Returning to UK, "M.S. Dilwara", 1954		Returning to UK, "M.S. Dilwara", 1954		Returning to UK, "M.S. Dilwara" 1954
Aden, 1954		Aden, 1954		Aden, 1954

My father worked at 40 Base Worksop, REME, in Singapore, with visits to 42 Base Workshop, REME, at Port Dickson, Malaya. We travelled home together on the "M.S. Dilwara" in May 1954.

We lived in Bovington, Dorset, 1954-57 (87b St. Julien Road), but this is the only picture I have from that period. The house was a prefab-type bungalow, and is no longer there.

We lived at Lindenstrasse 176, Moenchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, Gemany, from 1967 to 1964.

Suffolk, Summer 1966		Albert Square, Manchester, July 1967	Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester, July 1967	Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester, July 1967	Hunstanton, Norfolk, July 1967
Hunstanton, Norfolk, July 1967	Snake Pass, Derbyshire, July 1967	Snake Pass, Derbyshire, July 1967		Oulton Broad, Suffolk, July 1967	Oulton Broad, Suffolk, July 1967
Kent, July 1967	Wedding of Alan Fraser and Joan Scarlett, Didsbury, Manchester, 22 Aug 1970	Wedding of Alan Fraser and Joan Scarlett, Didsbury, Manchester, 22 Aug 1970		Wedding of Alan Fraser and Joan Scarlett, Didsbury, Manchester, 22 Aug 1970
Wedding of Alan Fraser and Joan Scarlett, Didsbury, Manchester, 22 Aug 1970		Llandudno, North Wales, August 1971	Dolgoch Falls, North Wales, August 1971	Dovercourt, Essex, June 1974
Essex, June 1972	Nicola Fraser's Christening, Bramhall, Stockport, Cheshire, July 1974	Nicola Fraser's Christening, Bramhall, Stockport, Cheshire, July 1974		Nicola Fraser's Christening, Bramhall, Stockport, Cheshire, July 1974	Pin Mill, Suffolk, Aug 1974
Lowestoft, Suffolk, Summer 1974		Lowestoft, Suffolk, Summer 1974		Felixstowe, Suffolk, Aug 1974
Shotley, Suffolk, Aug 1974		Pin Mill, Suffolk, Aug 1974		Jasmine Court, Ipswich, Suffolk, Aug 1974	Prestbury, Cheshire, Aug 1975
Pin Mill, Suffolk, Aug 1974		Jasmine Court, Ipswich, Suffolk, Aug 1974		Jasmine Court, Ipswich, Suffolk, Aug 1974
Prestatyn, North Wales, Aug 1975		Prestatyn, North Wales, Aug 1975		Prestatyn, North Wales, Aug 1975
Prestatyn, North Wales, Aug 1975		Prestatyn, North Wales, Aug 1975		Prestatyn, North Wales, Aug 1975
Ipswich, Suffolk, 1975		Canberra Road, Bramhall, Cheshire, Christmas 1975		Canberra Road, Bramhall, Cheshire, Christmas 1975
Canberra Road, Bramhall, Cheshire, Christmas 1975		Canberra Road, Bramhall, Cheshire, Christmas 1975		Canberra Road, Bramhall, Cheshire, Christmas 1975
Canberra Road, Bramhall, Cheshire, Christmas 1975		Canberra Road, Bramhall, Cheshire, Christmas 1975 (last photo as far as I know)

If you know who anyone in the group pictures is, please contact me: alanfraser87@gmail.com

Possible picture of Harold Fraser on Waterloo Beach, Liverpool, around 1917	Wedding of Eddie Fraser and Nellie Wadsworth, Leeds, 1927 (At back James Wren and Harold Fraser)	Wedding of Harold Fraser and Marjorie Mabel Hughes, Chelmsford, Essex, 1 Aug 1942	Harold Fraser and Marjorie Mabel Hughes, Chelmsford, Essex, 1942	Chelmsford, 1942	Chelmsford, 1942
Harold and Marjorie Fraser, Paignton, Devon, 1943	Bovington Camp, Dorset, 1943 (58th Training Battalion, Royal Armoured Corps)			Staff of AFV D& M (Armoured Fighting Vehicle Driving & Maintenance) School, RAC, Bovington Camp, Dorset, 1945

Rheindahlen, West Germany, 1958	Camping, Langst-am-Rhein, West Germany, Aug 1958	Cologne, West Germany, 1959		Meersburg, West Germany, Summer 1961
Hagnau, West Germany, Summer 1961	Bregenz, Austria, Summer 1961	Bregenz, Austria, Summer 1961	Vienna, Austria, Summer 1962	37 (Rhine) Workshop, REME, 17 Vehicle Battalion (Gloucester Barracks), Moenchengladbach, West Germany, early 1963
	Camping in the back garden, Lindenstrasse 176, Moenchengladbach, West Germany, Summer 1962	Moenchengladbach, West Germany, early 1960s

Aquila Airways Short Solent 3 Flying Boat "City of Sydney", Southampton Water	Limassol, Cyprus	Over the Sea of Galilee, Israel	Karachi, Pakistan	Goa, India
	Goa, India	Over Sumatra, Indonesia	"H.T. Lancashire", 1952