Died
December 1941
Sources
Place
Walks
Allen Fraser
Act/Engine Room Artificer 4c (C/MX 70093) Died on HM Submarine H31
Many war deaths were reported several months after they actually happened. Authorities could not necessarily confirm that the ship had been sunk, the aircraft had crashed, or the regiment had suffered losses. They also wanted to see whether the Red Cross would report that someone was a prisoner of war.
In Loving Memory of
MARY, THE BELOVED WIFE OF
JAMES FRASER,
WHO DIED 28TH FEBRUARY 1918,
AGED 38 YEARS.
ALLEN, THEIR SON
KILLED IN ACTION AT SEA, 1941
The Barrow News 28 February 1942 reported on the death of Allen Fraser thus:
BARROW MAN MISSING
SERVED ON SUBMARINE REPORTED LOST
News has been received that Mr. Allan Fraser, 24 years-old son of Mr. James Fraser, 43, Ramsden Dock-road, is missing while on active service. He was an engine room artificer serving on the Barrow-built submarine H31, reported missing in January last and now considered lost. The boat was one of the old type and was in service in the last war. (sic)
Allan Fraser was educated at Barrow Island and the Grammar School for Boys, and served his apprenticeship with Vickers-Armstrongs as a coppersmith, in which department his father is head foreman. He completed his apprenticeship in June 1938, and had worked in London since then. He was married shortly before joining up in August 1940. He was in Barrow on three weeks leave in September of last year, when he stayed with his parents, who last heard from him in November 1941.
Navy records say Allan Fraser’s date of birth was 21 February 1918. This suggests that his mother died seven days after giving birth. Cumbria BMD gives her maiden name as BALD.
Allan Fraser is commemorated on Chatham Naval Memorial.
Wikipedia reports that H31 was most likely mined in the Bay of Biscay between 19 and 24 December 1941. During the war, she took part in the operation to keep the Scharnhorst in Brest, France in December 1941 before the "Channel Dash" to German homeports in the company of Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen in February 1942.
Apart from the gravestone, all the documents I discovered reported his first name spelt as ALLAN.
naval-history.net lists him as one of 33 crew members lost on 24 December, 1941.
1939 Register
In the 1939 Register Allan Fraser, Coppersmith, was living at 28 Edenvale Street, Fulham. Other residents are William H(enry). Washington (DoB 4 November 1895) Builders’ Labourer; Florence M(ay). Washington (DoB 9 May 1895) Unpaid Domestic Duties; and Lily M. Washington (DoB 9 May 1920) Paper Bag Maker. Besides Lily’s name are Fraser, Lewis (both deleted) and Dodwell-Dickason. These are presumably three marriages she experienced during the war.
Lily May Dodwell-Dickason died in Merton, London, in December 1999.
His father James Fraser married Mary Bald at Trinity Presbyterian Church, School Street, Barrow, in Q3 1916.
1891 Census
There are several James Fraser’s in Barrow-in-Furness in the late nineteenth century. Based on the recorded occupation, I think that the James Fraser mentioned on the gravestone lived at 36 Sutherland Street, Barrow in the 1891 Census. His father, also James Fraser (40) Iron moulder, born Scotland, lives with his wife Isabella Fraser (40) born Scotland; and children Jane Fraser (19) Baker’s? Shopwoman, born Scotland; James Fraser (16) Apprentice Coppersmith, born Barrow; John Fraser (14) Apprentice Baker, born Barrow; Arthur J.? Fraser (10) born Barrow; William Fraser (9) born Barrow; Annie Fraser (8) born Barrow; and Alexander Robinson (50) Navvy? Plate, born Ireland.
1901 Census
Following up on Allen Fraser’s mother (James Fraser’s wife) Mary Fraser, née Bald, in the 1901 Census she was living at 148 Sutherland Street, Barrow. The full household was Allan Bald (49) Widower, Foreman Iron Turner (Fitter), born Glasgow, Scotland (as were the rest of the household); Marjory Bald (24) no occupation recorded; Mary Bald (21) no occupation recorded; David Bald (17) Apprentice Wood Patternmaker; Elizabeth Bald (11) no occupation recorded; and Robert Bald (6) no occupation recorded. The Census reports that Allan Fraser and his wife had nine children, four still living at this point.
1911 Census
In the 1911 Census living at 50 Cheltenham Street, Barrow were Allan Bald (59) Widower, Iron Turner, Shipbuilding, Out of Work, born Glasgow, Scotland; Mary Bald (31) Single, Housekeeper, born Glasgow, Scotland; and Elizabeth Bald (21) Single, At Home, born Clydebank, Scotland.
1939 Register
After his first wife Mary Fraser died, James Fraser appears to have remarried. At 43 Ramsden Dock Road, Barrow in the 1939 Register are recorded James Fraser (DoB 9 February 1875) Head Foreman Coppersmith, and Margaret Fraser (DoB 8 June 1892) Unpaid Domestic Duties. The next record is redacted. The marriage does not appear on Cumbria BMD website, so probably did not take place in Barrow or Dalton. I eventually found the right record: James Fraser (45) Widower, Copper Smith, father James Fraser, Moulder, of Barrow-in-Furness, Co. Lancashire, married Margaret Hanrahan (28) Spinster, of 6 Park Crescent Mews West, Marylebone, father Daniel Hanrahan, House Painter, at Holy Trinity Church, Marylebone Road, London, on 27 December 1920. James and Margaret had children Margaret (born 1921) and James (born 1923). I wonder how and where they met.
