Gilbert Francis Fraser's grave in High Wycombe Cemetery
Gilbert Francis Fraser 1900 - 1918
My name is Gilbert Francis Fraser and I was born in 1900 in High Wycombe. My parents were Arthur & Louisa.
We lived in Totteridge Avenue and my father was a gas fitter & cycle builder. Two useful professions. By the time I was born I already had five older siblings: Amy who was 14yrs my senior, Walter 13yrs older than myself, Arthur who was 10yrs older, Thomas who was 8yrs older, and Lewis who was 4yrs older.
By 1911 we had moved to 44, Benjamin Road, High Wycombe, just a stone's throw from my grave here in Wycombe Cemetery. My father was now calling himself an ironmonger. Although I was still at school I felt that there would be plenty of employment opportunities when I was old enough to find work. But when I was 14, in 1914, war was declared. I watched in fascination as the men and lads of Wycombe answered their Country's call. I was sure that the war would be over by the time I was old enough to join up.
But in early 1918 I enlisted at Aylesbury and joined the 4th Reserve Battalion of the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry. The Battalion moved to Ireland in April 1918 and were based at Luddan Camp in Buncrana. The Battalion was not considered to be a fighting Battalion so few records of my activities remain. My service number would suggest I only had 6mths service due to my young age and that unlike many of my friends and neighbours I did not go to France or anywhere further than Ireland. My family would have been hopeful that I would survive the war but Ireland was not immune to the tidal wave of influenza which swept across Europe in 1918.
I was to die in Ireland, probably at a military hospital there, and my death was registered in Londonderry. My body was brought back to High Wycombe so that I could be buried near my childhood home.
I am remembered on the Wycombe Hospital Memorial Plaque and on the 1922 Roll of Honour.
Researched by Ruth Bowler, Flackwell Local Area History Group
