Ian Fraser VC

In July 1945, Ian E Fraser sank the Japanese cruiser, the Takao, whilst commanding a four-crew mini submarine, the Sigyn and was awarded the VC for his bravery. Born in 1921 in England he left High Wycombe Grammar School, aged 15 and joined the Conway a training ship on the River Mersey in 1936. When war broke out he was suddenly in the thick of it, on destroyers, at Dunkirk, in the channel and then the Atlantic but he was restless for more hands on involvement, failed to get onto motor torpedo boats but was accepted on submarines. He volunteered for mini-submarines, called X-craft and it was off to Scotland for training. He took to it like a duck to water and was given command of his own sub the XE-3 that he named Sigyn after a Norse God, he still uses it as his house address to this day and was soon on a ship to Australia with his tiny submarine in the hold.

His mission was to sink the 10,000 ton cruiser, the Takao, a veritable fortress, being used as a shore battery, sitting in Singapore harbour. A great danger to any proposed invasion by the allies. She had a crew of 630, 5 double gunned turrets of 8 inch guns, a top speed of 33 knots, 8 21 inch torpedoes, completed in 1932 at the cost of £2.2 million she also carried 4 aircraft. He was issued several items to help in case of disaster, which can only be described as early James Bond. Lots of sew-on badges, to stop them being shot out of hand, a union flag with "I am a friend" on it in several languages, silk oilskin hankie with a map on it, compasses disguised as buttons, a colt 45 and much more. They had their X-boat towed underwater by a sub, for several days and another X-boat was to make the attack as well so at approximately 2300 hrs on the 30 July 1945 they slipped cable 2.5 miles from the coast and were on there own. They crawled past the listening posts of Jahore, on the surface and they had their first lucky escape, when a fishing boat they mistook for a buoy failed to spot them. Because of increased shipping they dived around 4.30 am only to damaged speed and distance monitors and with that and the lack of marker buoys they were finding it difficult to get their bearings. They had to hurry as they were 3.5 miles behind schedule but by 10.30 they'd snuck through the guarded boom that stretched from the island of Paulaubin to Singapore and had only 11 miles to go.

Just before 2.00 pm they were a mile away but soon, were under the Takao, despite nearly being spotted by a cutter full of sailors but they got stuck and it took 10 minutes of severe straining to break free, then they went back in again. They were only a foot under the keel of the cruiser and it took Magennis 30 minutes, in his high-tech frogman's suit, to lay the limpet mines, on his return they tried to release the 4 tons of high explosive, which had a pre-set 6 hr fuse but the starboard side wouldn't budge and the sub went out of control. They would either have to go out and release it, surrender or go up in the explosion, Ian Fraser went to put on the frogman's outfit but the exhausted Magennis stopped him and returned outside. Despite the clanging and air-bubbles, their luck held, Magennis succeeded and they made their escape. It was out of the frying pan into the fire, the tides were proving difficult and time was running out for them to reach the boom before it closed for the night, yet incredibly their luck held, another near miss with a high speed launch and they were through the boom at 9.00 pm. They surfaced at 11.45 and soon rendezvoused with the tow submarine. Exhausted with lack of sleep and stress but the mission had been a success, the Takao was sunk and they returned to Australia for some rest and Ian found he was a VC.

Incredibly, as it was sunk in shallow water, the Navy wanted them to repeat the mission but luck held again, Russia declared war on Japan, the Atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Japan surrendered. On his return home to receive his medal he visited the Takao in Singapore, only to come across a great irony, the ship had been torpedoed by a US submarine and taken out of service by the Japanese before his attack but no one in the Allies knew.

Sir Charles Crauford Fraser VC

Sir Charles Crauford Fraser, 1829-1895, he won his VC in service in India in 1958 and was later Colonel of the 11th Hussars.

Fr. Charles Fraser

At the age of ten Charles Fraser had been sent to the Benedictine College at Ratisbon, where he became the most brilliant student of that time, and the pride of his masters; at sixteen he left, and went to Stoneyhurst, there to prepare himself for the priesthood. Here also he so distinguished himself that, when only twenty-two years of age, he was chosen as one of the small band of teachers to establish a large Jesuit college at Clongowes Wood, near Dublin. He remained there for seventeen years, having been ordained by the celebrated Dr. Doyle a short time after his arrival in Ireland. During these years he gave all his spare time to preaching; he was constantly in demand, owing to the fame which his preaching had won for him, and he never refused any request which might help the cause of charity. There are innumerable institutions in Dublin which largely depend for their maintenance on the collections raised at these sermons. At times the collections which his powerful appeals produced amounted to two and three hundred pounds. One who knew him well at the time, and frequently accompanied him on these errands of mercy wrote: "…I have seen persons frequenting his sermons who carried with them to the church only their intended contributions, fearing that the eloquence of the preacher might extort more than their circumstances in life could spare. Yet, with all their caution, they have yielded to his powerful advocacy and thrown their jewellery, along with their money, into the coffers of the poor."

After seventeen years of labour, his health began to give way. He went abroad for a time to recover, and was then appointed to help Father Gordon in his own native climate,' In the early Summer of 1830 Charles Fraser took up his duties in Aberdeen, not as a Jesuit, but as the Rev. Charles Fraser, Assistant Priest.

'He was beloved by all who knew him, rich and poor, young and old; but above all else, he himself loved the poor. " To them he opened wide his heart, which was large enough for every human misery. If his right hand had been gold he would have parted with it in charity to the poor. When asked to make his will, he said: 'I have no will but the will of God!' and let it be told to his immortal honour, that at his death he left only one suit of clothes, all the rest had gone to clothe the naked poor - they are now laid up where they are saved from earthly rust, and where they will be restored to him an hundred-fold."

For five years he was Father Gordon's right hand, but about the Christmas of 1834 he showed the first symptoms of that disease which was shortly to become fatal. On Sunday, the 4th of January, he said Mass for the last time, and preached his last sermon. He had to retire to bed immediately after, and though he was attended by the best doctors, and even carried to Edinburgh to receive the best medical advice there, all was useless, and at his express wish he was taken back to Aberdeen to die. His sufferings were great, but he bore them with perfect serenity, and having received the last sacred rites of the Church at the hands of his beloved friend, Father Gordon, he gave himself up to prepare for death, calmly and even happily. Father Gordon remained at his bedside almost continually during the last days, and on the 12th of March, at half-past four in the afternoon, he died. On the 19th of March, Solemn High Mass was celebrated by Bishop Kyle, assisted by Bishop Carruthers, and a large number of priests, after which the body was carried through a dense crowd of sympathetic onlookers, to the Snow Churchyard, and laid in the same grave as that of Bishop Grant, Bishop Geddes, and Father John Gordon, Priest Gordon's brother, who had died on the 8th of December, 1823. One of his fellow-priests, after his death, spoke of him as "that eminent man, the champion of faith, the orator of the pulpit, the glory of the priesthood, the light of the sanctuary, the friend of the poor."

Neil Ross Frazer

Born in Canberra Australia in 1961, Neil Frazer holds an MFA in Painting from the University of New South Wales. After completing his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1985 he received a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the New York Studio School. He has been a practising artist for sixteen years and has produced thirty five solo exhibitions. His paintings are owned by public and private collections in New Zealand, Australia, England and the USA. While studying in New York he worked at the Paula Cooper Gallery. He has been artist in Residence at the Victoria College of Arts and a guest lecturer at RMIT and La Trobe University. From 1996 -1999 he was lecturer in Painting at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Sheila Fraser

Sheila Fraser was appointed Auditor General of Canada on 31 May 2001. Born on 16 September 1950, in Dundee, Quebec, she earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University in 1972 and became a Chartered Accountant in 1974 and an FCA in 1994.Mrs. Fraser joined the Office of the Auditor General as Deputy Auditor General, Audit Operations in January 1999. She has played a key role in the Office's strategic planning, policy and program development, resource allocation, and other senior management activities. She was responsible for reviewing audit findings to ascertain the nature and extent of problems in the audited organizations and bring them to the Auditor General's attention. She was also responsible for signing, on the Auditor General's behalf, opinions on the financial statements of Crown corporations and other separate entities.

Before joining the Office, Mrs. Fraser enjoyed a fruitful and challenging career with the firm of Ernst & Young, where she became a partner in 1981. She has always been active in her profession, at both the provincial and national levels. For her noteworthy service to the auditing and accounting professions, she was awarded the Prix Émérite 1993 and the designation "Fellow" by the Ordre des comptables agréés du Québec in 1994 and by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario in 2000. She is also a recipient of the Governor General's medal commemorating Canada's 125th anniversary and a member of the Public Sector Accounting Board of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.She chairs the Working Group on Environmental Auditing and the Sub-Committee on Independence of Supreme Audit Institutions, two committees of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI). She currently serves as Vice Chair of the Public Sector Accounting Board and in 2004-05 she will assume the position of Chair.

Sheila Fraser is married to Henri Gagnon and they have three children. Sheila is a second cousin 2x removed of John Fraser, the second Auditor General of Canada. Both are descendants of James Fraser (1765-?) and Anne McBean of Inverness-shire, Scotland. This branch of the Frasers removed to Dundee, Quebec in the early 1800's.

Sir Edward H. Fraser

Sir Edward H Fraser was Lord Mayor of Nottingham in 1896/7, 1897/98 and 1898/99 and 1910/11.

Lord Provost William Fraser

Lord Provost of Aberdeen,William Fraser, served as first citizen and Lord- Lieutenant from 1977 to 1980. When his term of office as Lord Provost ended, he remained on the City Council for sometime but is now retired from local government. He is still alive and well and living in the Brig O Balgownie area of Aberdeen. He is still a frequent visitor to the Town House. Provost Fraser Drive, which is the boundary of Mastrick and Northfield, in Aberdeen, is named after him.

Lord Provost Duncan Fraser of Aberdeen

Aberdeen's first Socialist Lord Provost was Duncan Fraser, chosen by his Council colleagues in November 1947. Duncan Fraser had been a commercial traveller before opening his own business in Schoolhill, Aberdeen. He resigned from the Council at the end of his provostship in 1951, and Aberdeen University awarded him an LLD that year. He had received the CBE in 1950, and in 1952 was created a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour of France. He died in 1965.

John Sims, VC

John Sims was awarded the VC for heroism in Crimea 1855. He was with the 34th Regiment, later the Border Regiment. If anyone knows more about John please let us know.