2830 Private
7th Battalion Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, 10th Infantry Brigade, 4th Division
Age: 21
Date of Death: 26.4.15
Buried: Seaforth Cemetery, Cheddar Villa Special Memorial B.8 https://www.theypressalient.com/post/seaforth-cemetery-cheddar-villa
Family history: Son of Alexander and Christina Fraser, 26 Victoria Road, Falkirk. He had for brothers and five sisters. Alexander gave his address as 1 Sanderson’s Buildings, Thornhill Road, Falkirk. Before he enlisted on 11 September 1914, he was employed as a moulder at Grahamston Iron Works.
On his death his mother claimed a gratuity however, this was deferred as she was listed as being ‘an inmate of a state aided institution’. On his Attestation form he listed one of his sisters as being a patient in a state hospital.
The action leading to his death
See ‘25 April 1915—Catastrophe at St Julien’
Alexander is listed as having been killed in action on 26 April. He may well have been wounded on 25 April during the attack and subsequently died of his wounds and buried here. Seaforth Cemetery and Cheddar Villa were fought over from 1915 to 1918.
Cheddar Villa has a large German anti-tank bunker in its grounds. These were built near important roads or railroads and normally housed a Russian Putilov 76.2mm gun, many of which had been captured on the Russian front. A good example of this type of bunker is Cheddar Villa with the firing slit covering Buffs Road.
This bunker was being used as an aid post by the 1/4 Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. During the night of the 7/8 August 1917 a German shell landed inside the door, it was facing the German lines, and exploded killing or wounding the occupants. Read more about the German bunkers that remain in Ypres Salient https://www.theypressalient.com/post/part-two-traces-in-the-landscape
Medals Awarded:
1915 Star, The British War Medal, Victory Medal.
