Lance Corporal William Fraser

Lance Corporal William Fraser, 1st/7th ( Territorial ) Battalion, Royal Scots. ( In “Soldiers Died” there is no such name under the 7th Battalion ) However there is a Lance Corporal William Fraser listed under the 2nd Battalion.  He had been born in East Linton and was the son of  Robert and Elizabeth Fraser of Dunfermline. As he is not on the St Boswell’s Memorial this is likely to be William Fraser who must have been transferred from the 7th Battalion. He was killed in action in France on 3rd May 1917, aged 39, during the Battle of Arras and is commemorated on the Aras Memorial, Arras, France. Before enlisting he had been employed as a Gamekeeper at Langlands, Newton St. Boswells. He fell in the attack near Monchy Le Preux which due to very heavy machine gun fire failed completely with the attendant heavy casualties. The photographs show troops during the battle.